In this sermon, the preacher begins by discussing the transformation that occurs in a person's life through the Beatitudes. He then moves on to describe the qualities of someone who is considered to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. The preacher emphasizes that those who possess these qualities are remarkably different from the rest of the world, as they are unable to easily write off or judge others. Instead, they exhibit humility, brokenness, meekness, and a hunger for God. The sermon is based on Matthew chapter 5.

Tonight, Matthew chapter 5, I think that's where we are. I think. Poor people, I was, thank you for coming. You've got to be getting tired of hearing me. I'm getting tired of hearing myself, and nobody loves me like me, and I figure if I'm getting tired, you must be having a problem, but you're here, so. Matthew chapter 5, verse 31 and 32. Of course, you're in the midst of the Sermon on the Mount. But it hath been said that whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a riding of divorcement. But I say unto you that whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causes her to commit adultery. And whosoever shall marry her that is divorced, committeth adultery. Let's pray, and we'll look at this together. Father, we thank you for your word. Lord, we thank you for your desire to teach us, to strengthen, Lord, our lives, our walk with you, our relationships in life, to bless and encourage and strengthen them. And we ask, Lord, tonight as we come, that you would continue, Lord, to open your word. And, Lord, may you give us a wonderful appreciation of this sermon, perhaps the greatest sermon ever preached. And Jesus says, you have saved it for us. We ask that now your Holy Spirit, who has saved it all these centuries, would just continue to open it up to us now, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, remember here, as we are going through the Sermon on the Mount, that it is one sermon. And that is, of course, it's one flowing message. It's one there that you can't just jump in to one verse somewhere in it and pick it up like you can many other places in the Scriptures and get the same depth out of it. There's a great flowing thought and truth that is going on here in the Sermon on the Mount. Thus, I continue to kind of take a few minutes each time to always go back into the very foundation of the Sermon on the Mount, because without the Beatitudes, it's utterly impossible. It's the most ridiculous sermon ever preached, in a sense, because without the message of the Beatitudes and what occurs during the Beatitudes. And so if you've been with us, you know so well by now, of course, that as Jesus there seeing the multitude there, he went up into a mountain, and when he said his disciples came unto him, and he opened his mouth and he taught them. And then he gave them here these Beatitudes. Looking at the multitude, sitting up on a mountain, he is sharing with the disciples here, looking at the masses, concerned for them, the message he wants them to know. Later on, he's going to turn the keys of the kingdom over to the disciples and have them establish and found the church. But here is he is giving to them perhaps the most important message that he'll ever give. Here in the Sermon on the Mount, the foundation of it is, of course, the Beatitudes. Where there Jesus gives us there the qualities that make up a spiritual life. And there as he begins, he said, you know, blessed are the poor in spirit. And then as you recall, blessed are they who mourn and blessed are the meek. The first three, as you recall, they're draining. That the man that is going to truly be a happy man, these Beatitudes, none of them in and of themselves, you remember, constitute true happiness. The Beatitudes, it's as if the Lord takes, that's what the word blessed means, a sense, oh, how happy. But there these, Jesus is giving us the key to happiness, but he is breaking it down that when you will see a person who is immensely happy, who has true, eternal, great joy and is understood, where a truly happy life is founded, you will always see these qualities within him. And there you will see that though none of them in and of themselves constitute happiness, but put together, they produce happiness. They will, the consequence, the result will be happiness. And so he says, oh, how happy is the poor in spirit. When at the very foundation of the man that is truly happy, he has come to grips that he in and of himself is utterly spiritually poverty stricken. Created in the image of God, but somehow or another that image, that life, that dynamic, that power was robbed from him and he found himself utterly spiritually bankrupt. And there Jesus, he said, oh, how happy. The man is going to be truly happy first realizes he's been spiritually robbed. He's poor in spirit. And then he goes on and he says, and secondly, he mourns about it. There is a sorrow within him. There is not just something, oh, well, everybody's messed up. Everybody's lost. I mean, hey, get over it, move on. But instead of being able to move on, there is something that has happened with him that he sees. I was created in the image of God and I've lost it. I was created to be in his likeness, his character, his love, his power, the very being that God was resident within me. And what has happened? And he not only is poor in spirit, has a poverty stricken spirit. He mourns over it. There's a genuine sorrow that has happened within him. There is something there that he finds himself. He can't recover from this. You just can't move on. And then it produces a meekness. He says, oh, how happy are the meek. Now this man, instead of coming before God hostile and angry and God, why this? And how come? And it's your fault. And don't blame me. But rather than that, Jesus said, I'll tell you the man that's going to be truly happy. He's poor in spirit before God. He mourns over his sinful state. And it has produced a meekness before God, a humility, a brokenness. That he comes before God as if to say, God, I, I'm a sinner. I deserve nothing but judgment. I'm in another failure. My life is in chaos. I have no hope in it of myself. But if you have it in your mercy, if you have it in your love, if you have something within you that reaches out to me and cares and wants to do a thing to help me. I'd love it. I don't deserve it. I have no right to it. I can't pay for it. I can't earn it. There's just a brokenness. There's a poverty of spirit. There's a mourning. There's a meekness. And that always will produce the next thing, a hunger and a thirst after righteousness. There, he says, for they should be filled. And here is his happiness is beginning to happen. A true happiness, a life and a heart that is in a soul that is now going back to its very created roots. Back into the very foundation. Something has happened where the old nature, the old man, the carnal man, the fleshly man, the I, me, my, myself is something is dying of him. Something is surrendering. It's giving up. It's tired of its own way. It's tired of its own mechanics and behavior. And if it's the embarrassment of his own self and before God, there's a humility and a brokenness and a meekness and a sorrow. And he's hungry now, not for more of himself, but he's hungry for God. And then he's filled. And there is God begins to fill him. Here's a man that the happiness just begins to grow because he's the next is, oh, how happy are the merciful. Now there is somebody that is actually beginning to be a vessel through which one of the deepest and most profound and greatest qualities of God's very being. Mercy begins to to to flood their heart. They find there something is happening where God's character, his gentleness, his grace, his love, his mercy is very. You know, we experience God's love and we experience God's grace, of course, as a Christian. But the reason we experience that is because God has had pity. He's had mercy. God gives us grace. God's riches at Christ's expense or unmerited favor. God merits this great favor because he is merciful. And then he actually begins to take his nature and put it within us. And we, if we're growing in him and we're letting him work within us, a merciful spirit begins to be ours. And then he says, oh, how happy are the pure in heart. Somebody that's actually seeing the heart that was once filled with arrogance and pride and selfishness. I want and I have and I run my own course and I fly my own ship and I do what I want to. And everything else that is happening now, there is a heart that is being these things are being driven out. And there is a heart that's being filled with God and filled with God. There is a merciful heart within it. And there's a there is a what? Blessed are the merciful. See, I've told you I'm getting tired of what's going on here. But the pure in heart, there's a heart that's pure. There's a singleness of heart happening instead of a double nature. There's something happening where profoundly the Lord is working, beginning to take over a life. And then he says, oh, how happy are the peacemakers. Somebody there that many everybody wants peace. And many people, once they get peace, the last thing they want is to be around the lack of it. But a peacemaker, because he has found the real message of peace. He has found peace with God. This is how you get it. This is how you get right with God. You come pour a spirit. You mourn over your sin. You meet before God. And then he begins to fill you in a merciful spirit and a pure heart begins to come in. And now he not only has peace within himself. He now has the message of peace for anybody. He can now go to anybody whose heart and life is at war within itself. Who's going through the battle within their own life. You know, between I want and God's will and what's good and what's bad. And all these things that men internally wrestle with. Of course you're wrestling. Of course you're fighting. Because you're not pouring spirit. You don't mourn over it. You're not meek about it. But there is these things happen. Now this man, he is so immensely happy. He not only has peace. He can make it. He can go where there isn't peace. And where things are at war. Lives are at war. A battle rages internally. And he's got the capacity to bring peace. But then he says even though that when you have this life. And you're living and you're walking in this great joy. Then goes on. He says know how happy are those that are persecuted for righteousness sake. He says the world won't. It didn't love me and it won't love you. Man isn't greater than his master. And they hated me. They'll hate you. Jesus said I'm the light of the world. And men love darkness. Their deeds are evil. And when I come and share this. There's a certain amount that respond to it. And then there's a certain amount that don't want anything to do with it. They'll reject you. So don't be amazed when people persecute you. Because you're living. With this type of joy. He then goes on from there. As you recall. And he says now. You are the salt of the earth. And he says that the salt has lost its savor. Where was shall it be salted. It is henceforth good for nothing. But to be cast out and trodden under the foot of men. He then turns to his you. Are the light of the world. As you know a city that is set upon a hill shall not be hit. And neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel. But rather on a candlestick. And to give a light to all that are in the house. And he says so let your light so shine before men. That they may see your good works. And glorify your father that's in heaven. But here so far. Jesus through the beatitudes. There is a transformed life. A life that was once ruled and reigned by self. And arrogance and pride. By the old man. By the flesh. You can pick all sorts of names that are given to us in the Bible about it. But essentially there. By Adam. The nature of fallen man in rebellion to God. But that man is finally tired. And he's exhausted. By his own driving of his own life. And he's broken and he mourns and he grieves. And finally one day he breaks. He says God if you can do anything to replace me. I'd love it. That's what the beatitudes do. God's replacement plan for a man who's tired of himself. God's transformed life. And then he looks. He says when you know this. He says you're the light of the world. You're the salt of the earth. He then takes a little break there. A little parenthesis kind of. And he says now. He says some of you as you're listening. He says you may think that I've come to destroy the law of the prophets. This doesn't sound like the law of the prophets. He says I'll tell you it not only is the law of the prophets. There won't be one jot or tittle of it that won't be fulfilled. But then he goes right back to the sermon. He goes right back there to the things that he is saying. To talk about somebody that is indeed just that. The light of the world. And the salt of the earth. And then he goes on. And we've looked at in the last two weeks. At two aspects of that. In verse 21. He tells him. He says you have heard that it hath been said by them of old time. That thou shall not kill. And whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of judgment. But I say unto you. That whosoever was angry with his brother without a cause is in danger of judgment. And then he goes on from there. He's not changing the subject. He's still flowing right on. It's so important. We understand this. He's flowing right on from the Beatitudes. Right on. You're the salt of the earth. You're the light of the world. And now he looks there. And he talks about anger. And he said you're angry with your brother. And he says you're in danger of judgment. And he's not changing the subject. We'll come back to that in a moment. But then he goes on. He says you have heard that it hath been said by them of old time. That thou shall not commit adultery. But I say unto you. That whosoever looketh at a woman with lust after in his heart has committed adultery with her already. And here again. He's not just kind of changing the subject. Sometimes we can pick this up and think. Well okay. He said this other stuff. And now it's as if. Oh there's a couple other things I wanted to tell you while I'm preaching. You know or something. And he just. A couple things that just came to his mind. No this is one sermon. He is flowing through this thing. After he has said. Here's the transformed life in the Beatitudes. He then looks and he says. If this transformation has happened in you. You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. And then he goes on describing the qualities of life. Of somebody that is salt and light. What is amazingly different about somebody that is salt and is light. And one of the first things he points out. There is that somebody that is salt and light. They're amazingly different than the rest of the world. That can. That goes around. And can just write off half the planet so easily. How easy it can get. How angry it can get. How upset it can get. They can look at people and say. You're a fool. You're a worthless fellow. As he said there. And he says. But the man that is salt and light. He can't do that any longer. He used to be able to easily. When he was run by himself. And his own pride. And who I think I am. From that seat. That throne. He could look at the whole world. And who he didn't like. He didn't like. Who he wanted to hate. He could hate. Who he wanted to say. You're a worthless human being. You're a fool. And. But now that somebody is the salt of the earth. And the light of the world. They begin now to look at human beings. And realize. Wait a minute. The only person. That perhaps is behaving foolishly. Or the person that is. Appears to be by others. Worthless. He only appears that way. Because of the fact. That the attitudes haven't happened in his life yet. He's still driven by himself. And still his pride. Still his arrogance. That's only his problem. But if he knew this. If he could have this peace. And this transformation within his life. Nobody's worthless. Nobody's. You know. A fool. They just. They're just a fool. That isn't transformed yet. You know. They're just somebody. That's only a fool. By. By product of not being right with God. But yet. So was I. It was a fool too. I was. You know. In there. But God loved me. He didn't write me off. And here when Jesus looks. He says. You are the salt of the earth. And the light of the world. And one of the things. That makes you salt. And makes you light. Is that while the rest of the world. Can just go around. And write people off. And be hostile. And be angry. You go to work. And they're all talking about. That boss. That idiot. You know. And the way they run this joint. I don't know how. They even can turn the lights on. Around here. You know. Or something. With idiots. Running the joint like this. And then I don't even know. With the other people. That are employed around here. I don't even know what they're doing. I'm the only intelligent guy here. You know. Or whatever else. And how easily. You know. That the world sits there. And has this capacity to reject. Half the planet. But somebody there. That has been the Beatitudes. Jesus said. One of the qualities. That will make you salt and light. Is that people will look at you. And you. And they'll realize. You haven't written anybody off. You don't have it. In the economy of your life. Your behavior. Where you see. People as you used to see. They aren't fools. They aren't idiots. They aren't. You know. Worthless fellow. Raka. As he calls them there. You don't hate them. You say. No. I guess I don't. Anymore I used to. I sure did. Before I knew the Beatitudes. Before I was transformed. Before Christ took over the throne room of my life. Before he became master and lord. I couldn't help myself. I could write off people. And shove them right off the planet. My heart. My mind. No problem at all. All day long. I can't do that anymore. I can't do that anymore. Something's happening within me. Something's being transformed. That I find myself. There. Being angry. And being hostile. I'm tired of it. When Christ is in throne. When I. When I'm letting him rule. And reign within my life. I find. He's taken that anger out. He's put in his love. And. And one of the great qualities. Of being salt and light. Is that. That people look at you. And they. That's. This is what salt and light is. It's a transformed life. And then he goes on. Right after that. Not changing the subject. He's still talking salt and light. And he says. And you have heard that has been said by them of old times. Thou should not commit adultery. But I say unto you. That whosoever looks at a woman with lust after in his heart. Has committed adultery with her already. And now. He looks there. And he. The interesting thing about the old man. The carnal man. Our. Our. Our self nature. That we all have. All struggle with. All of our life. The one thing about this. The carnal man. Is that on one hand. He can so easily. Right off. Half the planet. And then there's another bunch of the planet. That instead of. Destroying it. Hating it. Killing it. Like in. You know that. That he used to be able to do. There's another half of the planet. That rather than wanting to destroy it. He covets it. He lusts after it. He sits there and he says. You. Out of here. You. Come here. You're mine. Love it. He lusts. He covets. Takes to himself. There's something there about the natural man. That while on one hand. It can. Can in one swoop. Of the hand. Destroy half the plan. With the other planet. With the other one. It can just embrace. The rest of it. Now come. Satisfy me. Can dwell on it. Lust after it. That's the nature. Of the fallen man. That's the nature. Of the flesh. We all have it. Doesn't make any difference. How long you've been a Christian. And how good you've been a Christian. That nature is there. Within every human being. We were born with it. You know. We were born. You know. It's one. I see people all the time. You know. When little babies. And everybody thinks they're just so wonderful. And they are. I mean. Particularly my grandchildren. But the. But it's. It's something that. That. You look at them. It's all. They're so innocent. And they're so precious. It is. That isn't true at all. In. I mean. Unbelievably. God gives us this tremendous love. But they're the most selfish things on the planet. A little baby. Their moment it's born. It could care less about anybody else on the planet. It doesn't even know that there's anybody else on the planet. And if they are there. They are only there to serve them. Everybody else exists to make me happy. To burp me. Change me. Walk me. You know. Sing to me. You know. Buy me stuff. Take me places. Or whatever else it is. It's all about me. This is the nature. We're all born with And is it and the sad thing is is that nature it grows up It's it's real cute when it's six seven eight pounds. We look at all the little cute little but then it's just it's really nasty When it gets up to about a hundred and fifty two hundred pounds and it's still I me by myself I want I don't want that. I hate that thing. Give me give me give me and it's got this capacity To go back and forth with such inconsistency about it but one of the greatest Transformations that when somebody has the Beatitudes when there's this transformation we've come there and Jesus replace me restore me Regenerate me be resurrected in my life. Take it over be Lord be master be Savior be King and when we're Truly coming and doing this business with him He has this wonderful way when he says you're the salt of the earth and you're the light of the world He then has this wonderful way where now he turns And he says what'll prove that you are the salt of the earth and you're the light of the world Is that though you used to be able to just reject write-off hate, you know anything? You have one half and the other part that you used to sit there and covet and lust after I Want I'll have Give to me and there you can try instead of being controlled by that And he says if you'll find there this wonderful ability happening in Christ instead of coveting To learn what it is to purely love now, of course John in 1st John 2 15 John tells us love not the world neither the things that are in the world and he says the things that are in the world of the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life And he says those things are not of the father and there but he looks there's three things that are that Human beings that we lust after There's one half one part of life that we reject it. I hate it. I don't need it I don't want it. We can write it off and and that's usually just to make room for what I my passions are the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life John says that a worldly person is driven and Desires three things lust flesh eyes pride of life. The lust of the flesh is just very simply your passions physical drives Desires the sensual aspects. There's the lust of the eyes which is possessions the pride of life position There when you know when there's the the things that a person now on one hand I can write off a bunch of it And then there are some other things that I want so much I want my passions my possessions and my position give me give me give me I don't want this I do want this and Jesus says the man Essentially there instead of lusting and having to have he used the illustration essentially there of a woman But I believe it's much broader than that in The sense of there the one of the most wonderful things when Jesus is King and he is Lord Not only is there something happening where I don't have to have I mean I now my heart can include those that he used to reject it rejects attitudes and lusts and covets that it used to include and Jesus said when the world looks around and it sees you are different in this way your salt your light He then goes on in the third of his illustrations Have you ever heard that have been said by them of old time that if a man put away his wife let him give her a Divorcement but I say unto you that he's whoever put away his wife saving for the cause of fornication Causes her to commit adultery news whoever marries her. This is divorce Committed adultery but here and we need to take a few minutes here just to kind of explain exactly the differences of what it is When he he's referring here back to Deuteronomy chapter 24 When there he looks there and he says that there's the particular section here And in verse 31 there and it's but it goes to Deuteronomy 24 and number I'll just read it to you but it says that when a man has taken a wife and married her and It come to pass that she find no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her let him give her a bill of divorce mint and give it under her hand and send her out of his house and Here the Moses gave back in Deuteronomy something. We'll look at as well that Jesus refers to in Matthew 19 But there Moses gave there that when a man Had found some uncleanness in his wife That he could give her that could write her a bill of divorce mint. He could divorce her Now the key to that whole verse and that whole truth that Moses is bringing out is all wrapped up essentially in that one word uncleanness there when in When when he says if a man has found us some uncleanness in her and that word It doesn't when it means uncleanness. It doesn't just mean That she really needs a bath real bad. You know, I mean boy You stink woman, but now when is he's talking but the word uncleanness the in the Hebrew the word means a thing of nakedness Some shameful things some lewd or lecherous disgraceful act In other words here Moses is looking and he's realizing that people had this capacity To make a covenant to give their lives to each other but they didn't have the capacity to keep the covenant and That what could happen and has happened, of course through history is that people may make a commitment They want to go into it but lacking the right relationship with God the source that it takes to make covenants work There they get into these commitments and then though because their nature is fundamentally not changed They're wanting to live in a godly way by the law, but they can't fulfill it and while they can't fulfill it They're still coveting. They're still out there looking there for another and The next thing you know what it essentially this is referring to this is when he says there he's found none There's some uncleanness in her. This is not adultery. By the way that word uncleanness does not Assume adultery, but it does assume and a lewdness short of adultery and With adultery you didn't need a right of divorcement. You just needed some rocks but in that took care of it there because in the Old Testament you just stoned them but But when it was not a you know a stoning event, you know, but it was something leading up to it We're here there that somebody there that the nakedness a shameful thing a lewd and lecherous Disgraceful act is happening here a man perhaps. He's looking at his wife, but she's lost interest in him She's looking over and there's somebody else and that attraction that desire that lustful That's there that now brings an indecency and a shame upon their marriage and upon their Living, you know rightfully there There's a hardness of heart that happens between two people and Moses said at that point You may now give her a bill of divorcement Later on Jesus comments on it because they come to Jesus and they want to know in Matthew chapter 19 You know about marriage and about divorce and so Matthew 19 in verse 3 Tells us that the Pharisees came unto Jesus tempting him and saying unto him. Is it lawful for a man to put his wife? To put away his wife for every cause and he answered and he said unto them Have you not read? that which Was made of them from the beginning Was made them may he that made them a male and female And he said for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave unto his wife and they too shall be one flesh Wherefore there are no more two but one flesh Wherefore what God hath joined together? Let not man put asunder and here is Jesus He goes on to say but because of the hardness of people's hearts This was never God's intent that divorce would happen. This is what God intended what he wanted But then he's there as he stops and he says but first of all, didn't you read don't you know? What the relationship was to be in the first place? God took made male and a female and he made them two but through marriage. She made them one and Then he as he as he makes them one the man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife And they too shall be one flesh Now here is Jesus is teaching on marriage and one of the great secrets of marriage and the priorities of a marriage Is that first of all God brings us into this world where we are by ten commandments Ordered by law to honor our father and mother It's the strongest relationship for a child growing up greater than any other at all obedience and surrender in honor It's the greatest of honors But here Jesus said there is a time that a relationship happens We're literally that honor that you had for them is now set down and there is a greater honor That because now in this relationship two shall become one But it requires they're the greatest of honor to achieve it You've got to be able to put down all other honors all other relationships. They all have to be subordinated to this one And I suppose the great key essentially that happens in a marriage is There's a when people in order to have a marriage and to make it work The foundation of it is is that we understand that That we have a marriage and it and that we set a standard for our marriage It is something that there is nobody higher than my mate Nobody Maybe up until I got married I had my friends and I had my sports and I had you know My parents and I had other activities and I had a job and I had all these other things But when you get married You you know walk down an aisle and you hook arms and you stand before God and your friends and family and in these rented clothes and but anyway, and Then you you get down there and you stand there in these times of where you are now putting the entire rest of the planet You gather together your mother and your father You gather together her mother and father you gather together all the uncles and the aunts and the relatives you gather together your friends her friends You invite people from the office you the neighborhood your old buddies Everybody and now you give oh now you stand there and you give your vows to another Many of you probably when you got married you turned and you held hands and you you said in forsaking all others. I Pledged thee my troth And which I had no idea what it was that I said it because they just had me repeated And so I didn't mind saying it. I had no idea what it was. I just said, all right, I Just thought a trough was something a pig ate out of or something. I wasn't sure what it was. I Don't think I have one but if I ever get one you can have it, you know, it's kind of the attitude with it but what that means What that means for a marriage is that two people are coming in that they are making a commitment now in Entering into a commitment where they are now telling the rest of the planet every other relationship forsaking all others That word trough its old English for fidelity and fidelity means highest purest commitment When it says I am now to everybody else that is here I want them to gather and understand that maybe you've been my mother Maybe even my father and you've been my friend and you've been my business partner and you've been this and we've done all these things together But now there is somebody moving ahead of that line and it's taking, you know I'm forsaking everything else for this commitment to build it and Tragically many people get married. They never do that. They may say the words But they never even counted the cost They never sat there and you know, and then this marriage is going to be ahead of my business This marriage is going to be ahead of my friends This marriage is going to be again, you know ahead of any passion or possession or sport or any entertainment this relationship now takes precedence over it all and Here Jesus said this was what when God said and he made a man and he made a woman and he they were two but he Made them one though. They both came from a mother and father They're not there any longer But now they are divinely being connected with one another where God does this miraculous miss mystery to make them one but it only happens as two people now look at the rest of the world and They have the capacity and this is where salt and light Really comes in that one of the wonderful things that is true about a beatitude Christian I guess somebody that is had this transfer of power this surrender of life and Jesus is truly being Lord is That what is happening is now there's a whole group of people. They used to be able to write off That they don't they now we can include him There's a whole nother group that they coveted and lusted after that they included that now they write off or they shove back into a right relationship and then their life is now open for the right relationships to be formed and then now there is something that they are making a commitment in marriage and a union and One of the great things that when somebody is salt and light sometimes I think we tend to look at people and if they are you know that what it's salt and light is somebody's out passing up tracks Somebody that's out, you know in the street corner sharing Christ and that's part of it. No make no mistake about it That the great aspect of being salt in life is when the world looks at you and says you marched to a different drummer That boss just did to you the same thing. He did to me and for that I hate him and you love him Why? Or That gal that just walked by that was one pretty dish or something there that I couldn't keep my eyes off of You aren't interested in Why You don't have to have your passions and your possessions and your positions that drive your life any longer why and You make commitments and you found the power to keep them How This is salt This is light We yesterday in a salt and light doesn't make a lot of noise. It just lives just there And again, that's what gives the right to make noise These are the things that give up there when somebody looks there and they see a person who lives this way and thinks this way And Jesus there is he he's not changing the sermon as I've said so many times but he's just continuing it and he's building upon it and What the wonderful thing is is that when we they're common we put in there as cake now some of you I'm You know, I imagine as we gathered the year tonight some of you already in the past There is there is a divorce Already in and that's for a variety of reasons One is it number one could have happened before you're in Christ That's a very simple one because the Bible says if any man be in Christ He's a new creature old things are passed away. Behold all things have become new Yeah I've never had the power to keep a commitment outside of Christ never had the strength or the capacity of under understand priorities and Understanding commitments and how you can forsake all others and give somebody such high honor We just and did what the world didn't got married and it failed that's to be understood and But perhaps after you're a Christian again, they'll born again though may be saved At the same time still not one year still that is really fully surrendered fully entered into a covenant with somebody else in a marriage that says this is who we are and this is the cost and this Is and we are forsaking all others and we are pledging to one another our troth our fidelity and without that It's as though we may have actually received Christ And yet at the same time there's been no real transfer of Lordship He really isn't the power and the strength and the love and the hope we're just struggling through life And then we fail And then in the midst of that failure, you know the Because we can't keep it We find ourself there where we can still write off all sorts of people and we're still it is stuck with Adam ourself While we're trying maybe to grow a little bit But it hasn't happened yet to the degree that now we can make a commitment set something there to where you're high You're above it all But here Jesus he says to this person in the Sermon on the Mount He says this is your standards This is now how it ought to be that there's to me when somebody lives in this realm To be able to look there with all the magnificent hope in the world Maybe tonight you've come and your marriage is in trouble Maybe tonight you're there's you know, you're even here by yourself or you're not getting along. There's great stress and Yet you're a Christian. You're sitting next to each other right now. Just Praying God takes the other one home, you know My father-in-law used to kid about my mother-in-law. They were together 63 years One time he came over and he says Don he says guess what? He says Marg that was their name. They're both in heaven now, but he said Marg asked me tonight. She says let's pray that the Lord takes one of his home so I can go visit my sister in, Minnesota but the But sometimes you know we can well, you know where it's and they that was a joke with them They're very much in love wonderfully in love wonderful Christians But but it's something sometimes where they're God just take them home or take me home take us both home At least one of us, you know or something there and solve this mess, but usually the reason we're in trouble Is are not most of our? most of the stress in a marriage isn't most of the argument aren't most of the problem simply because of fidelity and Somebody else's got ahead of your mate in your eyes Something somebody some relationship got to go be with the guys or we got to have this thing Something else is more precious in the end. You're you're actually Negotiating forsaking one another for the sake of something else instead of wait a minute. I'm forsaking all else all others pledging you my fidelity and When we can look there at one another and say this Jesus there in the sermon on he says this is how these are the standards These are the things that you want if you want to be salt and light, you know, it's interesting in Jesus there and he told the disciples before he went he says, you know in the world, you'll have tribulation He guaranteed it. He promised it not you might or here and there or sometime. He said you will But be of good cheer I've overcome the world and I think we oftentimes think of tribulation and Trials are things that those are things that happen, you know You know at the office or they happen with your health or they happen with you know All these other sorts of things. I don't believe that's true. I mean that is true but I believe the greatest tribulation that oftentimes we have is the internal tribulation that Jesus said of the growth of a Christian of dealing with The trials of this hostility that I could have towards people of my own Adamic nature that can hate them call them fools write them off in the battle that can rage He says that'll be a trial for you The battle there that I look and I can lust and covet and want for myself over here in the other hand He says you'll have this tribulation. It'll be part of it. He says I've overcome it The battle you'll have in taking your marriage and seem to become high and holy and precious But these are the stuff that Christians are made of. These are the battles they want to fight These are the things that somebody that is growing in Christ the processes They say I want to be salt like this and I want to be light like this, you know some I'm lecturing again I talked about it last night, but I know well sorry But It's such it is so simple and yet so it's it's a these are these are the issues that we ought to want to fight with all of a heart To go to the issue there of my own anger and saying God Tired of being angry. I'm tired. And if you look at I say, well, I'm tired. Are you running it? I'm not angry I should tell you who's running the show I'm not angry. I don't ride. Don't write people off. I don't hate him. I don't want to kill him. I want to redeem him You know what I'm tired of lusting or coveting or wadding and give me Well, I'm not I don't do that You do that should tell you who's on the throne Tired my marriage. I'm tired. They commit back in its struggle. I'm not This is the stuff. These are the battles that the Christian fights these are the things that you long for the make deep and make strong and make rich and When somebody is learning these these things that's the road to being Free and being happy and being rich when these are the battles that we want to fight and something there that That I just suggest before I close here because maybe some of you tonight you're having trouble in your marriage And something that I suggest is that you do forsake all others pledge each other your troth And you need to go back and say, you know, if we want to have a marriage we ought to have it on Jesus's Terms were we forsaking all others as Jesus said and we haven't done that Maybe some of you need to go to your wife or your husband say, you know something. I I let the job be ahead of you. I Let stuff be ahead of you. I let my friends be ahead of you and I want you to be ahead of them I'm sorry, and that when we can just and we'll fight that battle now, you're fighting the right sort of a battle Maybe some of us in our relationships. We've got ways that we fight or argue or deal with things And you were we'll talk like we you know, like divorce, you know, you're in the middle of a fight You want a divorce? That's one of the great, you know tools we've got I'm out of here. You want out of here you want to go there's the door And we first got married I could do that Gene never did it but I like, you know, because I lost most of the arguments and when you're losing you grab anything You know sort of a thing. I know what you want. You want a divorce? That's what you know Well, I you want me out of here, you know And and that isn't what you used to bought as much as it but that's what we threatened with there's a door out One of the things we learned many years ago is that we shut down every door in every window There are no exit to this We're in it. We are committed to it. We literally threw out every vocabulary word that had to do with that We sat down and decided we'll never do that again You never have we've talked murder and not but only the But the When you decide you're never gonna talk you're gonna throw out that vocabulary. There's a problem in there all of a sudden I'm out of here and You determine no This is not I'm not out of here ever again And you're not out of here We're gonna sit down and find out what's got between us who or what or what issue or what problem? And how do we go back and get each other forsaking all others? And in that process again the wonderful thing about the person there that has that stopped Wiping people out that they don't like and it stopped inviting people into their heart that they shouldn't like Now they're free to focus on what they ought to like with all their heart one another now they can you know the One of the things I think when we can make a commitment in it to one another and that's it. Never again Can you imagine how differently you would treat your car If somehow another you found out tonight that car you you have it's the last one you can have for the rest of your life Gotta last you till you die You know, so no that things that I've been beating that thing to death. I don't change the oil and brakes are squeaking and you know and Smoking and it does this and it's but all of a sudden because you're just planning on just Beating it to death and pulling it over and trade it in. Give me a new one You're just measuring its time how long till I'm done with you and replace you and I suppose that's okay with the car But you shouldn't think of people that way If you know if there was something to where I mean there you realize this marriage is it I Mean if this car was it? I mean, I'll tell you got there tonight You talk to your car all the way home. You say I'm so sorry. I want to make this up to you Please I'm gonna get you all changed tomorrow. I'm getting you new brakes I'm gonna get you a pretty wash and shine, you know, or whatever it is And I'm gonna take care of you sugar lips, you know or something. I mean you there you'd find yourself there We're gonna go I'm getting you, you know high-octane no more that junk, you know or whatever else and you're gonna be happy and purr, you know or something because You're my wheels And and if we when we look at each other and realize I want to have you the rest of my life Not here to burn you up where you down because I want to give you my heart and That when somebody there they've got the the salt and their light and the transform life to me going to one of the things that Remember when I as a kid and I worked In the summers rising these college high school one of the other But in a machine shop and there was a fellow there He had his toolbox and he'd open up the toolbox and there in the top of his toolbox He had the fold out of some playmate of the month And he talked to her all day He'd go to get a tool or something sugar, you know or whatever else and sit there and he was real proud of his little collection and And he had this there in his toolbox, you know as and I guess he'd change him out now And then of course, I I just heard about it, you know It's sort of a thing and when I had to borrow a tool I had to feel her out I mean I wouldn't you know or something but the But this guy was so funny because he would at the end of the day he'd kind of closed the box Bye sugar See you tomorrow Going home to the old biddy, you know or whatever. He would talk like that and you know, that's the sad way to live The other hand there's another song of Solomon. I don't know if you read the book, but it's one of these books there I mean and Solomon was a young man and a wise man and living the way God had have him You look at song of Solomon and here are two people throughout the book Absolutely in love with each other They couldn't stop thinking about each other. It's too graphic even to get into mixed company as This guy when he's at work when Solomon's at work You know a and you know the other guy over there. He's at work, you know talking to her and and you know is Old out, you know or something now he's got to go home to the old biddy but Solomon all day long He's thinking about only one thing his wife and his love her and what she means to him And at the end of the day when one guy shut in his box down by honey. I'll see you tomorrow Got to go home to the old biddy Solomon's whistling Dixie. I'm going home to the young woman, you know, and he's excited to go Because he has nothing else in his heart butter And when somebody there that is salt that is light When people can see a pure love for God a Transformed life giving everything over to Christ. He's being enthroned Changing my heart towards what I used to hate changing my heart towards what I used to have to have and now Establishing priorities in my life for the relationships the way they ought to be That's the life he wants And maybe tonight, you know some of us were in struggle But God just wants to I love you Just your problem isn't you hate your problem isn't your lust your problem isn't your marriage Your problems. I'm not enthroned Can't do these things without me Get me in the right place Watch what I do for those Transform them Amen Father we thank you for your word and we thank you for your love And we asked Lord that you would take this wonderful sermon in the mount and Lord that you would help us to truly be salt and light and Lord that we would fight the most noble and Of all battles Lord the battle for the throne of our own heart to see that you are King And in the world, we all have tribulation and it all isn't just external a Lot of its internal a lot of its under our own skin Determining am I just gonna go on with my anger? Am I gonna go on with my covetous heart covet your heart and am I gonna go on? with forsaking the wrong things Lord I pray that tonight that you would just help us Strengthen us. I thank you Lord. You know that we're but dust you expect nothing from us. You don't expect us to fulfill any of this You just expect us to pick the right King And Lord, may that be it tonight may Jesus we turn to you and ask that you would be enthroned Such a way Lord is that we watch the work that you would do within us You take a heart and you'd fill them And Lord that there would be something in Jesus just as you said that what the father intended Is that two would become one? And as Paul says I speak of this marriage. It's a mystery Equated only with the love between Jesus and the church That's what you desire for our marriages for our homes Ignore that to the world when they see these things That's salt That's light. That's that's a transformed life help us with these things father. We ask it in Jesus name Amen Let's stand well, I Love this sermon. I hope that we realize how simple and yet powerful and practical it is and continue to find ourselves saying Lord These are the battles we ought to be fighting Maybe there's as you're maybe some of you're struggling with some of this anything in it. We're gonna pray with you That's we're here for down front afterwards. We hang around It's any way at all. Maybe there's something there you need to go and maybe even as a couple You need to say, you know, our problem isn't each other Our problem is is that we have yet to forsake all others to pledge each other our undying fidelity and Then when we see some schism We need to recognize it for what it is something or somebody has become higher than each other And then you know the whatever that that the pain that I'll bring is never worth it But if you can learn and Lord help my marriage help me and help my wife and help my husband or and do a wonderful work and It's what it's all about That's if you're married that the greatest thing in the world a wonderful gift It's me. I look at my wife. I mean a wife a good you mean they they half your sorrows Double your joys and quadruple your expenses, but it's still worth it I mean, it's what it's all about and when you just simply God It's what we're here for to love one another give ourselves But now may the Lord take his word and strengthen you May you fight the real battle and not each other and it's not the world you hate and it's not the world we covet It's the King that we ought to have within our heart and may Jesus be enthroned By his love and by his power may he bless you and may strengthen you in Jesus name