What Does It Mean to Be the Salt of the Earth? | Adrian Rogers | Love Worth Finding

0:00 Most of the people in America are simply living bland lives. They're living flavorless lives. That's the reason they're always trying to do something to get themselves on some kind of a high. Most of the people that you go to work with tomorrow, as I've told you before, they're not all that interested in going to heaven or hell. They just want to know how to hack it on Monday. I mean, there, uh, there is no excitement. There's no thrill. Their lives are TASTELESS. THEIR LIVES ARE FLAVORLESS. IT IS THE BLAND LEADING THE BLAND. AND WE WHO ARE CHRISTIANS, WE'RE TO BE DIFFERENT. THE EARTH. MATTHEW CHAPTER FIVE AND VERSE 13. WOULD YOU FIND IT, PLEASE? WE'RE CONTINUING OUR SERIES IN THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT, THE TITLE OF THE SERIES, BUILDING ON THE ROCK. TODAY WE COME TO A VERY WONDERFUL VERSE OF SCRIPTURE. MATTHEW CHAPTER FIVE AND VERSE 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 OUT AND TO BE TRODDEN UNDER THE FOOT OF MEN." WHAT A VERSE!

1:34 WHAT A VERSE! A LITTLE BOY ASKED HIS MOTHER, SO I'M TOLD, MOTHER, WOULD YOU GIVE ME A DOLLAR IF I'LL BE A GOOD BOY? SHE SAID, SON, WHY DON'T YOU BE GOOD FOR NOTHING LIKE YOUR FATHER? THERE ARE A LOT OF CHRISTIANS WHO ARE THAT WAY. THEY ARE GOOD FOR NOTHING. JESUS SAID, THEY'RE LIKE SALT THAT'S LOST ITS SAVOR. THEY'RE CAST OUT. THEY ARE GOOD FOR NOTHING BUT TO BE TRODDEN UNDER UNDER THE FOOT OF MEN. 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, UH, 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, UH, SODIUM. WE WOULD GET HYDROGEN GAS. AND THEN CHLORINE, THE OTHER ELEMENT IS A GREEN POISONOUS GAS. AND IF YOU WERE TO, UH, WALK INTO A ROOM FULL OF CHLORINE, HUH, YOU'D BE DEAD IN A LITTLE WHILE. THESE ARE TWO VERY DANGEROUS THINGS. IF YOU TO INGEST EITHER THAT SODIUM OR THAT CHLORINE, UH, ALONE, YOU DIE. AND YET GOD IN HIS CHEMISTRY HAS PUT THE TWO TOGETHER. SODIUM CHLORIDE, WE CALL IT TODAY TABLE SALT, IT'S 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

3:47 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. If it's important in our time, How much more it was important than 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.

4:43 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, OR 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 TASTS 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. MOST OF THE PEOPLE IN AMERICA ARE SIMPLY LIVING BLAND LIVES. THEY'RE LIVING FLAVORLESS LIVES.

5:53 THAT'S THE REASON THEY'RE ALWAYS TRYING TO DO SOMETHING TO GET THEMSELVES ON SOME KIND OF A HIGH. MOST OF THE PEOPLE THAT YOU GO TO WORK WITH TOMORROW, AS I'VE TOLD YOU BEFORE, THEY'RE NOT ALL THAT INTERESTED IN GOING TO HEAVEN OR HELL. THEY JUST WANT TO KNOW HOW TO HACK IT ON MONDAY. I MEAN, THEY'RE, UH, THERE IS NO EXCITEMENT, THERE'S NO THRILL, THEIR LIVES ARE TASTELESS. THEIR LIVES ARE FLAVORLESS. IT IS THE BLAND LEADING THE BLAND. AND WE WHO ARE CHRISTIANS, WE'RE TO BE DIFFERENT. THAT'S THE REASON THE BIBLE SAYS IN COLOSSIANS CHAPTER FOUR AND VERSE SIX, LET YOUR SPEECH ALWAYS BE SEASONED WITH SALT. YOU KNOW THERE OUGHT TO BE SOMETHING ABOUT EVERY CHRISTIAN THAT'S ABSOLUTELY EXCITING. DO YOU KNOW WHY I THINK WE HAVE SO MANY BORING SERMONS? BECAUSE PREACHERS ARE BORED. WHY WE HAVE SO MANY BORING SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSONS? BECAUSE THE TEACHER IS BORED. PREACHER WENT TO THE DOCTOR AND HE SAID, DOCTOR, YOU'VE GOT TO GIVE ME SOMETHING, HELP ME BECAUSE OF MY SNORING. THE DOCTOR SAYS, IS IT KEEPING YOUR WIFE AWAKE? HE SAID, IT'S KEEPING THE WHOLE CONGREGATION AWAKE.

7:03 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. My dear friend, salt preserves. When Jesus talked about being the salt of the earth, in 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. You remember reading there in 2nd Kings where Elisha put a cruise of salt into some deadly polluted waters and those waters were healed and where there was barrenness and bitterness there came blessedness. 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, A SALINE BATH. THEY WOULD SALT THE BABY WITH SALT, THAT IS TO HOLD DOWN INFECTION.

8:43 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 EATING A TOMATO WITH SOME SALT ON IT? HA, HA, HA, OR JUST, YOU, YOU, HAVE YOU EVER GOT A, A CUT ON YOUR HAND AND, AND THEN, UH, GOT SALT IN IT? YOU SEE, THE BIBLE SAYS IN MARK CHAPTER NINE AND VERSE 49, FOR EVERYONE SHALL BE SALTED WITH FIRE. WHAT'S HE SAYING? HE'S SAYING THAT, UH, 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 AND IRRITANT TO THIS WORLD. SALT BURNS, IT IRRITATES. I'LL TELL YOU WHAT ELSE SALT DOES. MY DEAR FRIEND, SALT PENETRATES. YOU CAN TAKE JUST A PINCH OF SALT AND PUT IT IN A GALLON OF WATER 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 SAUCE WHERE IT CAN PENETRATE, WHERE IT CAN ACTIVATE AND CHANGE SOCIETY. YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IN SO MANY OF OUR CHURCHES, WE BECOME JUST, UH, GIGANTIC SALT WAREHOUSES. YOU DON'T SALT SALT. WE'RE SALTING ONE ANOTHER WHEN WE NEED TO SALT SOCIETY. MANY OF OUR SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASSES HAVE BECOME SACRED SOCIETIES FOR SNUBBING SINNERS WHEN THEY OUGHT TO BE, UH, UH, UH, UH SALT SHAKERS GETTING OUT HERE AND CHANGING THE WORLD. SALT PENETRATES. JESUS SAID HERE IN THIS PASSAGE OF SCRIPTURE, YOU'RE THE SALT OF THE EARTH. LOOK AT IT IN VERSE 13. HE DIDN'T SAY, YOU'RE THE SALT OF THE, OF, OF THE

10:49 CHURCH. YOU'RE THE SALT OF THE EARTH. 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, DEAR FRIEND, THAT CHRISTIANS ARE TO BE THE SALT OF THE EARTH AND WE MAY BELIEVE IN THE SEPARATION 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. I I HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND THAT. SEPARATION FROM SIN, YES. ISOLATION FROM SINERS, ABSOLUTELY

11:46 NOT. YOU KNOW THE PROBLEM WITH US, WE SIT IN THESE AUDITORIUMS LIKE THIS ALL AROUND AMERICA TODAY, AND ALL WE, UH, HAVE BECOME IS SOME SORT OF GLORIFIED SALT SHAKERS. THE SALT NEVER GETS OUT. IN 1985, IN NEW ORLEANS, LISIANA, 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 ONE HUNDRED LIFEGUARDS. JEROME MOODY, AGE 31, DIED, SURROUNDED BY TWO HUNDRED 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, MY DEAR FRIEND, PENETRATES. IF YOU'RE ENJOYING THIS MESSAGE from Adrian Rogers and would like to dig a little deeper into today's topic, download this free companion Bible study. Use the link above to get yours. Now that's the dynamic of pure salt.

13:17 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? AND BIBLE TIMES THEY GOT MUCH OF THEIR SALT FROM THE DEAD SEA. THERE'S MORE SALT CONCENTRATED THERE THAN ANY OTHER PLACE ON EARTH. AND, UH, WHEN THE SUN WOULD COME OUT UPON THAT PARTICULAR SALT, IT WOULD EVAPORATE THE WATER AND THE SALT AND THE MINERALS WOULD BE LEFT BEHIND TOGETHER. YOU COULDN'T USE THAT ON YOUR TABLE. AS A MATTER OF FACT, IT'S POLLUTED. IT'S, IT'S TERRIBLE. IT'S NOXIOUS. I HAVE BEEN DOWN THERE TO PUT MY FINGER IN THAT AND JUST PUT IT TO THE TIP OF MY TONGUE. IT'S, IT'S BITTER INDEED. SALT, YES, BUT ALL OF THE PURITY OF SALT HAS LEAKED OUT AND LEACHED OUT AND THE CHEMICALS, THE IMPURITIES ARE LEFT. IT IS VALUELESS. NOT ONLY IS IT VALUELESS, IT'S HARMFUL. IF YOU WERE TO TAKE THAT SALT AND PUT IT ON YOUR CROPS, THEY DIE. IF YOU WERE TO POUR IT, UH, DOWN THE WELL, THE WATER WOULD BE POISON.

14:31 What would they do with that salt? I'll tell you one thing they could do with it. They could just cast it out on the roadway. That's the only safe place for it. You couldn't put it in the fields where it would leak down into the water supply and so forth. Put it on the roadway. And because it made a very good cement, the moisture would come and dampen it, and then it would harden and men would walk on it and it would be trampled down. Nothing would grow there. But it made very good pavement for men to walk on. Look at what he says here. But ye are the salt of the earth, but if the salt hath lost its savor, its saltiness, 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 the church of the Lord Jesus Christ today? My dear friend, do you know what is happening to Christians in this day and this age? We're being walked on like never before.

15:25 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 TRODDING 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. THE DEMAND. 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. I AM MORE CONCERNED ABOUT AMERICA TODAY THAN I'VE EVER BEEN IN MY life.

16:53 MANY PEOPLE DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT IS HAPPENING IN AMERICA. MY DEAR FRIEND, IF AMERICA WAS EVER AT THE CROSSROADS, SHE'S AT THE CROSSROADS THIS HOUR, 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. WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN AMERICA? 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 SCHOOLHOUSE, THE STATE HOUSE,

18:03 THE CHURCH HOUSE, THE WHITE HOUSE. BUT SCHOOL PRAYER HAS, WAS BANNED IN 1962. THEN THE BIBLE, THE READING OF THE BIBLE, WAS BANNED IN 1963. THEN THE POSTING OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS 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. SO IN SO-CALLED GOD BLESSED AMERICA, THESE THINGS HAVE TUMBLED DOWN AND IN 1987 THE UNITED STATES HAS BECOME BY THAT TIME A LEGALISTIC, A LEGALLY ATHEISTIC COUNTRY. DID YOU KNOW THERE'S PRESENTLY MORE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN THE FORMER SOVIET UNION THAN THERE IS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TODAY? 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 BLACKROBED SUPREME COURT JUSTICES, THE HIGH PRIEST, 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, AS A NON-PERSON, IT HAS

20:09 NO RIGHTS, AND THEY HAVE BEEN SACRIFICED UPON THE ALTAR OF EXPEDIENCY. DID YOU KNOW THAT IN THE LAST 15 YEARS AT LEAST HALF AND MORE THAN HALF OF ALL OF THE PREGNACIES AMONG WHITE AMERICANS HAVE BEEN KILLED BY ABORTION, ABORTION? MOST OF THEM, NOT EVEN THERAPEUTIC, MOST OF THEM CONVENIENCE ABORTIONS. BELOVED, IT'S TIME FOR THE SALT TO WORK. DID YOU KNOW THAT IN THE LAST 25 YEARS SUICIDES AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE HAVE INCREASED 150 PERCENT? IT'S TIME FOR THE SALT TO WORK. DID YOU KNOW THAT TWO THIRDS OF THE GRADUATING SENIORS IN OUR HIGH SCHOOLS, I SAID TWO THIRDS, CONFESSED, WHEN POLD, THAT THEY HAD EXPERIMENTED WITH ILLEGAL DRUGS.

21:10 IT'S TIME, MY DEAR FRIEND, FOR THE SALT TO WORK. DID YOU KNOW THAT IN AMERICA, ONE MILLION OF AMERICA'S TEENAGE GIRLS GET PREGNANT EVERY YEAR? IT'S TIME FOR THE SALT TO WORK. IN AMERICA, In America, so-called God-blessed America, sodomy has gone from a sin to a sickness to a socially accepted practice. It is time for the salt to work. In America, the divorce rate has risen 40%. 40%. 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 WORSHIPED 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 OR THE JUDGMENT OF GOD. HOW DOES GOD JUDGE US? HE LETS US HAVE OUR WAY!

22:33 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 Tennessee. It's not in Nashville. 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.

23:27 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, IT IS THENCEFORTH GOOD FOR NOTHING BUT TO BE CAST OUT AND TO BE TRODDEN UNDER THE FOOT OF MEN. LET ME TELL YOU WHAT'S HAPPENED IN AMERICA. THE ZONOVAN PUBLISHING HOUSE PRESENTED THESE FOLLOWING ITEMS, QUOTE, SOME THINGS TO PONDER ABOUT, THE LAND OF THE FREE AND THE HOME OF THE BRAVE. IN THE WAKE OF THE SUPREME COURT STANCES, NUMBER ONE, LISTEN TO THIS, YOU MAY NOT DISPLAY A CROSS ON PUBLIC PROPERTY UNLESS ITS OWN FIRE. HMM. IN WHICH CASE SUCH ACTION IS PROTECTED BY THE FIRST AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION. THAT'S A FREE EXPRESSION OF SPEECH. IN MOST CASES, IN MOST STATES, RATHER, A MINOR, THAT IS, A CHILD, A YOUNG CHILD, MAY ABORT AN UNBORN CHILD WITHOUT HER PARENT'S CONSENT. YET WITHOUT HER PARENT'S PERMISSION, SHE MAY NOT GO ON A SCHOOL field trip to the zoo. You can't even take her to the zoo without parents' permission, but you can abort a child without the parents' permission or even knowledge. We live in America today where if you wanted to use a dog for medical purposes, mer, medical experimentation, there is going to go up around America a great hue and cry, and yet in the same so-called America we have those who are campaigning to use, to farm, to harvest the tissue of aborted babies for the same purpose.

25:30 We save the whales, we kill the babies. We want to spare the rainforest, but we kill the babies. What is wrong in America? What has happened to this land of the free, this home of the brave, I'LL TELL YOU WHAT HAS HAPPENED. THE SALT HAS LOST ITS SAVOR. WE ARE GOOD FOR NOTHING. WE'RE FIT TO BE CAST OUT AND TRODDEN UNDER FOOT OF MEN. AND THAT IS WHAT HAS HAPPENED. 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. AND WE SANG TODAY ABOUT THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS CHRIST, BUT YOU BETTER STOP USING THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS CHRIST AS A LAST RESORT AND SOME ESCAPE VALVE. WE'RE MEANWHILE BACK AT THE RANCH, WE'RE LIVING HERE, AND YOU DON'T KNOW JESUS MAY NOT COME FOR A HUNDRED YEARS. I WANT MY GRANDCHILDREN TO LIVE IN THE KIND OF A LAND THAT I HAD THE JOY OF LIVING IN, ONLY I WANT IT TO BE BETTER. 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

27:36 THAT CAN'T BURN WET WOOD IS NO GOOD ANYWAY. GOD IS STILL ALIVE IN NINEVEH. YOU THINK AMERICA IS BAD? MY DEAR FRIEND, THE WAY THE PEOPLE IN NINEVEH WERE LIVING IN JONAH'S TIME WAS SO TERRIBLE THAT GOD SAID, I'M GOING TO OBLITERATE THEM ALL. I'M GOING TO DESTROY THEM. AND GOD SENT A SALTY SAINT, BY THE WAY, HAD TO SPEND A NIGHT ON A FOAM BLUBBER MATTRESS BEFORE HE GOT RIGHT. GOD SENT JONAH AND AN ENTIRE CITY ABOUT THE SIZE OF MEMPHIS, Tennessee, repented in sackcloth and ashes. 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 cursed and sworn one of his closest and denied him. Judas had sold him for 30 pieces of silver.

28:47 And yet on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of God fell and those salty saints moved out 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, 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. IT'S TIME, MY DEAR FRIEND, FOR THE SALT TO WORK. WHEN WESLEY WAS IN ENGLAND, MY DEAR FRIEND, YOU TALK ABOUT IN THE 18TH CENTURY, THERE WAS A COMPLETE BREAKDOWN IN THE GOVERNMENT. THE MORALS OF FRANCE WERE ABOUT TO TAKE OVER. THE IMMORALITY OF FRANCE WERE JUST ABOUT TO OVERTAKE ENGLAND. THE CLERGY IN ENGLAND WERE DRUNKEN. THEY WERE GAMBLING. THEY WERE PROFIGATE PEOPLE. THERE WAS A STATE, CHURCH, AND THE PURITAN PREACHERS CAME IN. THEY DECIDED THEY WOULD BE THE SALT OF THE EARTH. THOSE PURITAN PREACHERS WERE PUT IN JAIL. THE SLAVE TRADE WAS FLOURISHING. IT WAS A DARK DAY. AND MY DEAR FRIEND, GOD SENT WESLEY AND OTHERS AND THERE WAS A MIGHTY REVIVAL IN ENGLAND. EVEN IN AMERICA, DWIGHT L. MOODY, WHO WAS THE BILLY GRAHAM OF HIS DAY, NEVER WAS UNBELIEF, MORE FIRMLY ENTRENCHED THAN IN, 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.

30:34 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 PORNOGRAPHY. 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

31:34 TIME, OH, IT'S PAST TIME FOR THE SALT TO WORK. You know what? Do you know what? Do you know what? God took sodium. deadly, explosive. God took chlorine, noxious and deadly, and God, by His divine chemistry, put them together, and God made something incredibly wonderful, necessary for life, NECESSARY FOR PRESERVATION, NECESSARY FOR PURITY. MY DEAR FRIEND, THE GOD WHO DID THAT WITH COMMON SALT IS THE GOD WHO, BY THE CHEMISTRY OF THE CROSS, CAN CHANGE YOU AND MAKE YOU A BRAND NEW CREATURE.

32:40 THERE ARE MILLIONS IN THE WORLD, MILLIONS, WHOSE LIVES HAVE BEEN CHANGED RADICALLY AND DRAMATICALLY ETERNALLY FOR GOOD, FOR GOD, AND FOREVER BY FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST. HEADS ARE BOWED, EYES ARE CLOSED. HOW MANY IN THIS BUILDING WOULD SAY, PASTOR ROGERS, I'M SAVED

33:09 AND I KNOW IT. IF I DIED TODAY, GOD'S SPIRIT TELLS ME I WOULD GO STRAIGHT TO HEAVEN BECAUSE I HAVE REPENTED OF MY SIN, I'VE TRUSTED JESUS CHRIST AS MY PERSONAL SAVIOR, I HAVE CONFESSED HIM OPENLY AND PUBLICLY, I'VE FOLLOWED HIM IN BELIEVER'S BAPTISM, I AM NOW LIVING FOR HIM IN THE FELLOWSHIP OF A NEW TESTAMENT BIBLE-BELIEVING CHURCH, LIVING BY HIS WORD. AND THE SPIRIT OF GOD TELLS ME,

33:35 I BELONG TO JESUS CHRIST. NOW I KNOW IF I SHOULD DIE TODAY, I'M GOING TO HEAVEN. WOULD YOU LIFT YOUR HAND AS A TESTIMONY? THANK YOU. TAKE THEM DOWN. NOW IF YOU COULDN'T SAY THAT, MY DEAR FRIEND, IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO RECEIVE CHRIST. YOU CAN BE SAVED TO YOU CAN BE SAVED TO HEAR TODAY, NOW, BY RECEIVING CHRIST. THE BIBLE SAYS, BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AND THOU SHALT BE SAVED. THAT WORD BELIEVE DOESN'T MEAN MERE INTELLECTUAL AGREEMENT. IT'S A BIBLE WORD WHICH MEANS TRUST, COMMITMENT, TRUST JESUS, COMMIT YOUR LIFE TO HIM AND YOU WILL BE SAVED. SAVED. AND WHEN YOU GET SAVED, HUH, YOU'LL BECOME THE SALT OF THE EARTH. FATHER, THERE'S SOME HOMES HERE THAT NEED YOUR SAVING SALT.

34:30 THERE'S SOME SCHOOLS THAT NEED SALT. THERE'S SOME OFFICES THAT NEED SALT. AND I PRAY, DEAR GOD, THAT YOU'D MAKE, YOU'D MAKE THESE YOUR CHILDREN, SOME OF THEM WHO'VE BEEN GOOD FOR NOTHING.