It is my great joy to be able to minister the word of God to you again this morning. So will you take your Bibles and turn to Mark's gospel as we continue to examine it verse by verse gleaning as much as we possibly can, from what the Spirit of God has revealed to us through His servant. And this morning, we come to the second part of "The Danger of Causing Another to Stumble." And certainly it is a solemn responsibility for each one of us as believers to cultivate godliness in our soul. In fact, I believe its First Timothy four seven says that we are to "exercise ourselves for the purpose of godliness."" And when we do that, we will not be a stumbling block to others. And we will also be able to promote that godliness in our own heart. Let me remind you of the context here before we look at the passage. Remember, the disciples had been arguing about who's going to be greatest in the kingdom. And Jesus has just finished confronting them and teaching them on matters pertaining to pride, and to humility. In chapter nine, verse 35, we read that he called the 12 and said to them, "If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all." Well obviously the self-promoting arrogance of the disciples fueled jealousy and strife amongst them, causing them to forfeit divine blessing and power, which will happen to each one of us. And so to illustrate the kind of humility the Lord is describing, and that which he wants, we read in verse 36, of chapter nine, that he takes a child "He set him before them and taking him in His arms, He said to them, 'Whoever receives one child like this, in My name, receives Me, and whoever receives Me does not receive me, but Him who sent Me'." And of course, the imagery is very clear there, you have a child that has no honor, no status, and desperate need of love and attention and training and even discipline and certainly protection. Matthew even gets more specific in Matthew chapter 18 and verse three, Jesus says, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." And certainly, as believers, when we come to Christ, we do so like children do we not? Ignorant, naive, needy, naughty, and on it goes; in need of love and rescue and forgiveness and protection, training. And in fact, Jesus even speaks more specifically about believing children in verse six of Matthew 18, he calls them "little ones who believe in Me". In other words, he's addressing even the most vulnerable among us. And what follows is a very intense warning pertaining to the dangers of causing a little one, to stumble into sin and unbelief. And even young believers, even immature believers, and frankly, any believer for that matter. So with that in mind, we come once again, to Mark nine and verse 42. I want to read down through verse 50, because we will be looking at this as a unit this morning. So Jesus says in verse 42, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast

into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than having your two hands to go to into hell into the unquenchable fire, (where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched). If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than having your two feet to be cast into hell (where their worm does not die and their fire is not quenched). If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out. And it's better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die in the fire is not quenched. For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalted with what will you make it salty again? Hve salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another." I've divided this section into three categories that I hope will be helpful to you. Last week, we examined the first one and that is a call to realistic self-examination. And then secondly, we will be looking at a call to radical repentance and finally, a call to resolute discipleship. Let me give you a brief review because we need to see this as a unit. Last week we examined number one, a call to realistic self-examination and notice what he says in verse 42, to the disciples, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble", which means to to entrap, to ensnare, to cause someone to sin, to be deceived and to dishonouring God, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea." In other words, it would be better for that person to experience that horrifying form of execution than to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. No wonder Jesus would say in Matthew 18, verse seven, "Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks. For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes." See, Jesus is serious about protecting His redeemed, and we should be likewise, because they have been purchased by his very blood. Now this would have been very sobering to the disciples would it not? Because they had been treating each other with contempt, arguing about which one is more important, which one should be first in the kingdom, inciting each other to envy and jealousy and strife. So this would have been a call to realistic self- examination, concerning their own pride, their lack of humility. But it also gave them discernment because you see the same types of warnings in the context of the scribes and the Pharisees, who were causing everyone to stumble, including little children. And last week, I gave several illustration of what that looks like In our culture today. Especially the vile woke LGBTQ community that boldly brags about how they're coming after our children. I'm sure you all are aware of that; has been all over the news. The recent pride parade in New York City, there were hundreds of these perverted people in desperate need of the gospel, chanting quote, "we're here we're queer, we're coming for your children." What they refuse to admit is that God is coming for them unless they repent. Revelation 21 and verse eight we read that for the "cowardly and unbelieving and abominable, and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." Dear friends, nothing can even begin to compare with the judgment of God on those who cause others, especially little children, to stumble into sin and temptation, and deception, and unbelief. But then beginning in verse 40, Three, there is a shift. Jesus shifts his focus from those who cause others to stumble to those who stumbled themselves. Instead of ensnaring others, we may also ensnare ourselves by acting upon the sinful impulses of our unredeemed flesh. What Paul called you will remember in Romans 7:23, "the law of sin". We're all aware of that. He said that though he rejoiced in God's law, he saw an opposing force at work in the members of His Body, an opposing force that demands obedience. And he called it quote, "the law of a different kind". This is the power of indwelling sin that must be resisted, it must be starved, it must be exterminated, which is an ongoing battle in our life. When you stop and think about it, if we're honest with ourselves, we did not have to learn how to fly off the handle in an absolute rage when things don't go our way. We come by that very naturally, we don't have to teach our children to be self absorbed, and self willed, and demanding. We don't have to work at being immoral and proud and demanding and envious and jealous and factious and so forth. I mean, don't we just naturally overeat, over medicate, overspend, overstate, overindulge, overstep and on and on it goes, right? Just who we are, in many ways. That's the law of sin. And then

we cause others to stumble as well. Even when we try to do good, there is an opposition going on within us. How many times do you come before the Lord early in the morning for private worship and prayer and as soon as you get your cup of coffee and you get hunkered down, your mind starts wandering. And there's all these distractions; there's the law of sin at work. Or you don't even get there because after all, you're too busy. Or you're too tired, or you're too hungry. Sunday worship comes family worship, home fellowship groups, opportunity to serve one another. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, I've got so much going on. I can't be distracted with those things today. Or to honor the Lord in our giving, to be good stewards of that which He has given us because it all belongs to him. Now, you know, I've got that boat payment, or my credit card payments, and on and on it goes, I don't need to give examples. There's always a danger of doing that because if I don't hit yours, you think you got off scot free, right? Paul speaks about this in Romans chapter seven. I want to underscore this in your mind. So you understand where Jesus is coming from and going and what he's saying. In Romans seven, beginning of verse 18, the apostle Paul laments over this very thing. He said, "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I wan, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I'm doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me, I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man. But I see a different law and the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin, which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand, I myself with my mind, I'm serving the law of God, but on the other with my flesh, the law of sin." We all feel the tension, right? We all understand this. I think of some of the saints in the Galatian church who were abusing their liberty in Christ, thinking they could sin without consequence. And so forth, they were failing to love one another and serve one another, resulting in bitter conflict in the church. And in Galatians five verse 15, we read the Apostle Paul saying, "But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. But I say walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh." Again, there's the law of sin. He goes on to say, for the law, or "For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please." Then he goes on in verse 19, and following is that "Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are;" and then he gives this list, "immorality, impurity", which could be translated uncleanness, it's a wider range of moral evil, and it's corrupting influence in our life and in the world, especially the defilement of sexual sin. He goes on and mentiones "sensuality", which is shameless debauchery. It refers to just a complete loss of restraint and decency. We see this, for example, in these pride parades that are frankly too vulgar to even describe. He mentions "idolatry", which is anything that distracts us from worshiping and serving the one true God. Anything that occupies our thoughts, anything that motivates our will to dishonor God, anything that fuels our emotions, to cause us to lust after other things. Cell phones are probably at the top of the list these days. Entertainment, even exercise, think of all the people that worship body image. Materialism on and on it goes. He mentioned "sorcery". Sorcery, which is could also be translated, witchcraft comes from a Greek term "pharmakeia" we get idea of, of pharmacies and so forth or drugs. And this certainly was used to describe the drugs that were used in association with the occult. By the way, these drugs were even used back then for abortions. So these are things that are part of the deeds of the flesh. He goes on, he mentions "enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." Those things, those wicked things that we do, if we continue to practice them, we are a slave to them, and sin eventually becomes characterological, right? A person that drinks too much is eventually called a drunkard. A person that steals is eventually called a thief, and on and on it goes. Now, those enslaved by their flesh, are basically those who have never been born again. But even we, being born again, have to deal with this law of sin that remains in our unredeemed humaneness until that day when we are

taken home. Now back to our text. Jesus now adds another dimension to his warning against causing others to stumble, which will be the lifestyle of the unregenerate. And now, he warns against stumbling ourselves or succumbing, shall we say, to the law of sin that works within us. And that's going to bring us now to our second point in a little outline, and that is a call to radical repentance, a call to radical repentance. And here he warns about the dangers of allowing ourselves to just let our sin run rampant and not deal with it. And he's going to do this through very figurative, even hyperbolic language, talking about removing a hand and a foot and an eye, each being a valued part of our body. And each a member of a pair, which I believe is most significant, as I hope to demonstrate. So I believe not only is Jesus emphasizing the spiritual need for the aggressive removal of anything that would cause us to stumble. But I think he's also pointing to an even greater reality and that is the need for a supernatural heart transplant. Because you think about it, you cut off one hand, what happens? You still got the other. You cut off one foot, what happens? There's still one that remains. You'd cut out one eye, you've still got the other. Moreover, the hand and the foot and the eye or any other bodily part, for that matter, do not act independently on their own right? It's not like boy, I'd be great if I could just get rid of this hand. They all respond to the lustful passions of the heart. James chapter one, verse 14, "each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his..." hand, his eye is foot? No. "His lust." Goes on to say "Then when lust is conceived, it gives birth to sin. And when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death." In fact, Jesus makes this clear. Back in Mark seven beginning of verse 20, he said, "'That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man, For from within, out of the heart of men, precede the evil thoughts, fornication, thefts, murderers, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these things proceed from within and defile the man." Jesus even used the example of sexual immorality, in Matthew chapter five, beginning in verse 27. He says, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, then for your whole body to go into hell.'" So yes, absolutely, we must deal aggressively with indwelling sin, but unless there is a radical transplant of the heart, you will never be able to do that. And you will never have a desire to do that. You will remain enslaved. You can cut off all of your body parts until you're dead and you will still lust for various things. By the way, herein is the folly of asceticism. We don't hear that very much it's the practice of strict self-denial to eliminate sin. I was thinking even of Martin Luther before he rightfully understood that the just shall live by faith, not by works. He dedicated himself to the Augustinian order, devoting himself to long hours of prayer and fasting, to the point where he was frequently emaciated long periods of time, or he would confess his sin and he would even strike himself with a whip. And many people did that, not understanding God's grace, and how that grace works through the power of the Spirit and His word to sanctify God's people. In fact, there was a guy named Simon Stylites, he comes from the Greek term "stulos", which means pillar, and he was called the "pillar saint". He was a Syrian Christian ascetic, who lived 37 years on a small platform on top of a pillar. Would you like to do that? And now people venerate him as if he was some, you know, great saint, and many others did that type of thing. And there's some that do it today, desert monks, nuns and so forth. So to be sure, physical amputations of or any other form of asceticism is not only barbaric and absurd it is, it is futile. A total contradiction of the work of saving and sanctifying grace as Jesus repeatedly describes. Once again, folks, the remedy for dealing with indwelling sin is the sanctifying work of the Spirit of God through His Word. Now let's look more closely at what Jesus says. Verse 43, "'If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled than having your two hands, to go into hell and to the unquenchable fire, (where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched).'" Again this is figurative language used to describe the everlasting continuation of judgment upon the wicked whose resurrected bodies have been supernaturally outfitted for the eternal torments of hell. In Matthew chapter 13, verse 42, Jesus

says, "The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." This again describes the conduct of those who caused others to stumble, those who rejected God. The weeping signifies the unimaginable horror and helplessness of eternal judgment, and the gnashing of teeth or the grinding of teeth, is an expression of intense hostility and unimaginable rage toward God that would do this to them. And again, Jesus in verse 45, goes on says the same thing about the foot, "If it causes you to stumble, cut it off," and so forth. Verse 47, "If your eye causes us to stumble, throw it out," and so forth. So what is Jesus saying to his self-promoting disciples? What is he saying to us? So easy to get ensnared by our own sin is it not, to develop those habits to cause others to stumble? Is he saying to them, "Listen, guys, you either deal aggressively with your sin, or you're gonna go to hell?" Is that what he's saying? Well, of course not. But rather he's saying, deal aggressively with your sin. But no, this is going to require more than you will ever be able to do on your own. Because the ultimate source of your evil is in your heart. The reference to hell is to force the reader to take sin seriously. Not "do this or you're gonna go there;" Certainly for the unredeemed that will be their eternal destiny if they refused to ask Christ to pay for their sin, they will pay for them eternally themselves. But he's saying, as well here, to go to any extreme, any measure possible, to avoid divine punishment. And when you've done all, when you've cut off all of your body parts, you will still fall short. You will still need undeserved mercy and forgiveness and grace and cleansing. Now, please understand the unregenerate will see no need to deal aggressively with their sin, as I said earlier, just doesn't doesn't faze them. They don't even see it as sin. They're slaves to sin. We, as believers, by God's grace, have died to sin and we are alive in Christ. I like to put it this way, sin still remains but it no longer reigns. Romans six beginning of verse five, Paul says, "For if we have become united with Him, in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him in order that our body of sin might be done away with so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died is freed from sin." Only true believers will have a desire to put to death the deeds of the flesh. Let me take you to Romans eight for just a few minutes. Romans chapter eight beginning in verse 10. The apostle Paul says "If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness." And indeed, because of sin, physically, we die, we understand that. But notice the certainty based upon our justification, he says, "yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.N not our righteousness, but the imputed righteousness of Christ. Verse 11, gives kind of a summary statement. "But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. So then," verse 12, "brethren," in other words, in light of the glorious privileges that are ours, "we are under obligation." In Greek, it can be translated, we're a debtor, we are under obligation "not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh." In other words, although the flesh, that old sinful nature, is ever present, influencing our lives, and it will not be eradicated until we enter into glory, nevertheless, we owe it nothing. That's the idea. We are not indebted to the flesh, we're no longer required, quote, "to live according to the flesh." In other words, to live under the domination of the old nature. We've been freed from that. All of the selfish motives, arrogant purposes, idolatrous affections, the deeds of the flesh, Galatians, five, and so forth, all of the corruption that flows from the heart, and manifests itself in our body, we're no longer indebted to that, we're no longer required to live by that. The flesh no longer has any claim on us. In fact, as we read, "once we were sold under sin," Romans 7:14, but now we've been delivered from the realm of that tyranny. So now we become servants of righteousness, we no longer have to obey the commands of the flesh. We might say the flesh is now a toothless tiger. It has been declawed, it has been crippled, unless we succumb to a fantasy of its former fierceness, and once again, allow sin to control us. But now the spirit ultimately is in control, he has regenerated us, and one will one day resurrect us physically. So we are under obligation to obey Him. Notice Romans eight verse 13. "For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die." See here, the apostle is describing the unregenerate man that remains and the dominion of his own fallen flesh and slayed by his, his fallen

nature, dead spiritually. And unless he repents, his life will continue to move inexorably towards the second death of an eternal hell. Very clear throughout Scripture, if you live according to your flesh, you yield your allegiance to its power, and it will eventually drag you down into its doom. But not so for those who are now under no condemnation, notice verse 13. Again, he says, "But if by the Spirit" if you are living by the Spirit, in other words, if you're living according to the influence of the indwelling Spirit, "you are putting to death," the great old English term "mortify", your mortifying. I remember the first time I heard that word, I didn't know what it meant. But I thought that's a cool word, and then eventually looked it up. Now I understand what it means. And I also know how hard it is to do what it means, right? You're putting to death. You're making it die. What are the deeds of the body, the doings of the flesh that uses your body as its organ of wickedness. And he says, if you're doing that "you will live." Because eternal life is only available through Christ in whom we are united. So dear Christian, we are not debtors to the flesh, but to the spirit. And our joyful obligation is to submit to the Spirit of God who empowers us to put to death, the deeds of the flesh, resulting in eternal life. And now, with that privilege comes responsibility. Isn't it interesting when you first, when you think about it, first God gives us the blessing. He establishes the position that we have being able to stand in His grace because of the great doctrine of justification. He makes His promises to us and then He gives us his provisions and then he has made everything ready for us to succeed. And therefore he exhorts us to obedience. In other words, think of it this way, we are now in Christ. The Holy Spirit dwells within us and as Peter said, in Second Peter one three "His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness." Beloved, please understand, God never asks us to do that which He has not empowered us to accomplish by the power of his Spirit through His Word. Now, notice again, verse 13, "by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body," present tense in the original language grammar, denoting that this action is going on right now and it's going to continue to go on, it will be habitual, it is repeatable. This habitual killing of sin, frankly, will be the defining work of a believer. If it's not there, that person has never been born again. Paul wants us to grasp this. He wants us to realize these great truths;let them grip our soul. This is why Jesus prayed, "Sanctify them in the truth, Thy word is truth." So we want to realize that we are no longer debtors to the flesh. And to know that the Spirit of God is helping us put to death, the deeds of the body. Second Corinthians five, verse 14, speaks of what the Lord has done here. He says, "For the love of Christ controls us." What an amazing statement. It's the love of Christ, that motivates us. He goes on to say, "having concluded this, that one died for all therefore all died. And He died for all so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. Therefore," in light of all of this, he says, "From now on, we recognize no one according to the flesh, even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him in this way, no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away, behold, new things have come." Take of what Paul told Titus, in Titus two, beginning in verse 11, he said that, "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires, and to live sensibly and righteously and godly in this present age", and so forth. Colossians three and verse five, "Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as," what? "dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil, desire and greed, which amounts to idolatry." So in other words, when those lusts come, whatever it might be, whenever I need to deal with indwelling sin, I've got the power to do that. I have got the power to do that. I am not under its tyranny anymore. Paul went on to say, "For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience and in them you also once walked when you were living in them." Thankfully, because of God's infinite grace and provision and power, we are no longer slaves to those things. So again, whatever form it takes in your life, whatever form sin takes, you need to kill it. And you know what it is in your life. But know this, unless your heart has been radically changed through the miracle of regeneration, where there has been an instantaneous, supernatural impartation of spiritual life to the spiritually dead, unless that has happened, you will be unable to deal effectively with your sin. Moreover, you will have no desire to do so. And as a result, as Jesus says, you will be quote, "cast into hell." Verse 46, of Mark nine, "where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched." And our pagan culture knows

nothing of holiness of God, right? There is no fear of God. And by the way, if you know nothing of the holiness of God, you have no desire to be holy. You have no desire to be saved from your sin that would make you guilty before God's bar of justice. So people mock Christ, mock his word, hate his people. They challenge all that is sacred. I was made aware of a billboard recently. It said huge letters, "virginity is a social construct." I mean, that's just satanic stuff. And this is what is being fed to our children, our young people. And sadly, much of the American church knows no different. So many ostensibly evangelical churches have embraced all of this woke, LGBTQ wickedness. And therefore, ichabod is written across their doorway, which means the glory has departed. They are thoroughly apostate; any church that embraces any of this wickedness is thoroughly apostate. And if you're a part of anything like that, you don't need to walk, you need to run to get away from it. Much of the church today is largely unregenerate. It's Christian in name only. So folks, we must not stumble into the same trap. as God's people, we must take seriously our Lord's command. As we've seen in this little outline, we've got a call here to realistic self-examination. Secondly, radical repentance. And finally, the Lord gives a call to resolute discipleship. Now remember, Jesus has been warning his disciples against becoming a snare to others, as well as becoming ensnared themselves by their own sin and to underscore the demanding requirements of genuine discipleship that sometimes we'll include radical spiritual surgery to deal with remaining sin, Jesus now closes this section with a trilogy of salt passages. The first one is in verse 49, he tells his disciples, "'For everyone,'" I believe this is referring to everyone who's following him, that's the context, "For everyone will be salted with fire." Now, granted, this is a very enigmatic, a very cryptic statement. But I think given the context, it refers to the cost of discipleship, the idea of taking up one's cross following Christ in resolute discipleship. Now, let me give you some background here. As I tried to explain this, it's really a fascinating passage. First of all, salt when you see it biblically, for example, in Exodus 30, and verse 35, we know that it was included in the sacred incense that would burn perpetually on a special altar just outside the Holy of Holies. And it represented the perpetual prayers of God's people, and the pure offerings of the heart that which is a pleasing aroma to God. And it's also interesting, salt does not burn. For example, in numbers 18, verse 19, we see that it was a sign of God's covenant dealings with Israel. In fact, in the Old Testament, it was included in the offerings because it was emblematic of permanence or loyalty to the covenant. You see this, for example, in Leviticus two and verse 13. And these offerings included the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, the peace offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering, and the drink offering, all of which pointed to Christ's provision, and his character. And so salt, being a durable preservative, was applied to the sacrifices as a symbol of God's abiding faithfulness, that he will do all that He has promised to do. I might add that the burnt offering along with the other offerings that I just mentioned, will be part of our millennial worship one day, an amazing thought; a tangible memorial that's pointing back to the infinite value of Christ's sacrifice and our devotion to Him. We read about this, for example, in Ezekiel 43, verse 19, and also verse 24. It says, "You shall present them before the Lord and the priests will throw salt on them, and they shall offer them as a burnt offering to the Lord." So in summary, salt symbolizes God's faithfulness and the concomitant or associated consecration of his people to him. Well, what about fire? Well, in the Old Testament, we see that fire was associated with God's revelation of himself, in his Shekinah, in the burning bush with Moses for example. It also revealed God's judgment, like we see the fire upon the Sodomites in Sodom and Gomorrah on that judgment. It also was associated with the purification of God's own people. Remember the burning coal that that came from the altar that cleansed Isaiah, or the divine fire that healed and refines God's people. Malachi three, verse two, "But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiners fire, and like fullers soap. He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness." And so what we see in both the Old Testament as well as the new New Testament is that fire is also associated with purification, with sanctification of believers, which at times can be very painful. I've been there, if you haven't, and you know the Lord, you will be there too. In fact, it's an ongoing thing in my life, as I'm sure it is you, if you will admit that. First Peter one, verse six, "In

this, you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." So with some of this background, we come back to Mark nine in verse 49, "For everyone will be salted with fire." I believe he's saying that all who follow Him, will be purified. As Jesus has mentioned earlier, the fires of eternal judgment will engulf those who persist in unbelief, those who reject Christ and His sacrifice. But the fires of divine testing will purify those who trust in the sacrifice of Christ. Moreover, First Corinthians three, verse 13, "each man's work will become the evident; for the day we'll show it because it has to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work." Beloved, in summary, all who follow Christ must be totally dedicated to him. That's what Jesus is calling them to, must be totally consecrated to him. But that's going to cost us. There's going to be fiery trials and persecution that will come into our lives for our good and for His glory. Romans chapter 12, verse one, Paul says, "Therefore I urge, you," he's pleading with believers here, "brethren, by the mercies of God, I'm urging you to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship." So salting a sacrifice, symbolically expressed the purity and acceptability to God, but that sacrifice also had to be roasted with fire, which I believe helps us explain the clause, "for everyone will be salted with fire." If I could paraphrase it. I would say it this way, every disciple of mine must experience, of salting, like the Levitical sacrifices to make their life and acceptable sweet smelling sacrifice, pleasing to God. But this will require the purifying fires of adversity. And then there's a second mention of salt. He says in verse 50, "Salt is good." And certainly we know that it is is a crucial mineral. It was used back then as it is today, sodium chloride; it was used as a cleansing agent, as a food preservative. I mean, we're all familiar with salting and brining and, and pickling and all those types of things. But it was also an important seasoning that enhances the taste of foods that would sometimes be almost unpalatable because they don't taste very good. I mean, who wants to eat an unsalted cracker? Or a hard boiled egg with no salt? Right? I mean, you get the idea. So he says salt is good, but if the salt becomes unsalted with what will you make it salty again. And indeed, in that region in the Dead Sea, they had to be very careful to process salt properly, to avoid contamination with gypsum. Otherwise it would lose its taste and it would become worthless. In fact, Jesus said in Luke 14:33, "None of you can be my disciple who does not give up all his possessions. Therefore salt is good; but even if salt has become tasteless with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear." So Jesus is here calling his disciples and, calling all of us, to an unwavering resolute commitment to following him to discipleship. And how sad it is to see so many believers today who are virtually worthless as a godly cleansing and preservative agent in a decaying society. As tasteless is tofu, right? I'm sorry, if you like tofu, I can't stand this stuff. No evidence of any resolute bold discipleship. Folks, we need warriors not cowards. You want to ask yourself, Am I a salty Christian? Right? Matthew five, verse 13. Jesus said, "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." And then finally, in closing, he says, and this is the third in that little trilogy of salt. He says, "Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another." When you've been assaulted with fire, you will be a salty disciple. You will be that cleansing, preserving, unifying force among God's people; you will be that kind of an agent in your marriage, and your family and your church and your workplace and your community. And when you are, you will be at peace with one another. A lesson the disciples needed to learn as we all do. So may I challenge you, dear friends, to examine yourself here this morning. Someone has said that your life may be the only Bible people ever read. You want to ask yourself where am I causing others to stumble? Especially children? You all you want to ask yourself, Where am I allowing sin to ensnare me? Because I need to go after it and I need to kill it. And am I a faithful, dedicated, resolute disciple of Christ? Am I a salty Christian? Is my character defined by those qualities that promote truth and righteousness and the fruit of the Spirit? Or am I as tasteless as tofu? I hope that's not the case. Because if that's the case, you're as worthless as salt that's been tainted with gypsum. The good

news is if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So let's celebrate God's grace, even in the midst of all of these depressing things that we have to examine in our hearts. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, thank You for the Magnificent Truths of your word. apply them to our hearts that we might bear much fruit to the praise of your glory. For it's in Christ's name that I pray and for his sake. Amen.