1 00:00:01,420 --> 00:00:04,360 There is a street corner in the town 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:09,020 of Newburyport, Massachusetts that is significant. 3 00:00:09,860 --> 00:00:13,100 Its significance lies in the fact that George 4 00:00:13,100 --> 00:00:17,620 Whitefield often stood at that intersection to preach 5 00:00:17,620 --> 00:00:20,220 in the open air before the white church 6 00:00:20,220 --> 00:00:23,440 which now stands there was built for him 7 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:25,440 in 1765. 8 00:00:26,330 --> 00:00:30,820 That spot also is noteworthy because Whitefield's remains 9 00:00:30,820 --> 00:00:33,600 lie buried beneath the pulpit of that church 10 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:37,880 there in the Old South First Presbyterian Church. 11 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:42,520 One day before the church was built, Whitefield 12 00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:46,280 was addressing his usual crowd on that street 13 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:50,600 corner in 1740, and the following story captures 14 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:53,340 the essence of his sermon that day. 15 00:00:53,780 --> 00:00:57,160 An immense crowd is hurrying, at five or 16 00:00:57,160 --> 00:00:59,520 six o'clock in the morning, to the 17 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:03,640 corner of High and Federal Street, and some 18 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:06,860 of them, men and women too, young and 19 00:01:06,860 --> 00:01:11,700 old, have come, riding, or afoot, even from 20 00:01:11,700 --> 00:01:15,640 Raleigh, for what strange thing, of all other 21 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:18,060 strange things, to hear a sermon. 22 00:01:18,820 --> 00:01:21,140 But the preacher is George Whitefield. 23 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:23,040 He gives out his text. 24 00:01:23,620 --> 00:01:26,800 Ye are the salt of the earth. 25 00:01:27,320 --> 00:01:30,720 Then his voice rolls over the assembly as 26 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:31,580 he begins. 27 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:36,200 And whom does the apostle mean when he 28 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:37,720 says ye are? 29 00:01:38,300 --> 00:01:42,360 Why you, ye saints of Newbury, but I 30 00:01:42,360 --> 00:01:45,720 much fear ye have lost your savor. 31 00:01:46,860 --> 00:01:50,440 I love that story, friends, about George Whitefield, 32 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:52,940 and we have an illustration here of the 33 00:01:52,940 --> 00:01:55,880 salt as spoken by our Lord Jesus in 34 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:57,140 Luke's gospel. 35 00:01:57,740 --> 00:02:01,980 In chapter 14, you can turn in your 36 00:02:01,980 --> 00:02:03,540 Bibles there now, friends. 37 00:02:03,860 --> 00:02:07,039 We'll be in verses 34 and 35. 38 00:02:07,539 --> 00:02:11,780 In verse 34 we read, Salt is good, 39 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:15,460 but if the salt hath lost its savor, 40 00:02:16,020 --> 00:02:18,000 wherewith shall it be seasoned? 41 00:02:18,740 --> 00:02:21,880 Let me pause here, friends, to say, this 42 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:24,120 is what Whitefield was referring to. 43 00:02:24,660 --> 00:02:29,520 Salt without savor represents the Christian without spiritual 44 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:35,260 vitality, and this deterioration into spiritual life can 45 00:02:35,260 --> 00:02:38,280 lead to a dead formalism like that of 46 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:42,140 the deeply religious Pharisees, and it can lead 47 00:02:42,140 --> 00:02:46,540 to a backslidden condition away from the heart 48 00:02:46,540 --> 00:02:47,200 of God. 49 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:49,960 I say away from the heart of God 50 00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:53,440 because if you are a backslider, then you 51 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:56,700 are folly yourself and do not know what 52 00:02:56,700 --> 00:02:59,340 is on God's heart because you have lost 53 00:02:59,340 --> 00:03:00,420 touch with Him. 54 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:04,640 In Proverbs it reads, the backslider is filled 55 00:03:04,640 --> 00:03:07,280 with his own ways, and so it is, 56 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:10,520 friends, with the believer who has lost his 57 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:11,020 savor. 58 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:12,920 Let me put it this way. 59 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:16,080 Have you ever known someone who made you 60 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:18,900 more thirsty for Christ and the things of 61 00:03:18,900 --> 00:03:19,920 eternal worth? 62 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:23,740 Every time I was around Adrian Rogers he 63 00:03:23,740 --> 00:03:26,020 made me more thirsty for Jesus. 64 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:31,140 That was because Jesus was prominent in Adrian 65 00:03:31,140 --> 00:03:31,740 Rogers. 66 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:35,760 When you make Christ preeminent in your daily 67 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:39,220 living, friend, then Christ will be prominent in 68 00:03:39,220 --> 00:03:39,960 your life. 69 00:03:40,500 --> 00:03:45,140 You will make others thirsty for Christ because 70 00:03:45,140 --> 00:03:47,860 you are like salt that has not lost 71 00:03:47,860 --> 00:03:48,720 its saltiness. 72 00:03:49,460 --> 00:03:53,640 Unfortunately, we have in our churches today some 73 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:57,000 saltless Christians, and that's the title of my 74 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:00,120 message today, friends, the saltless Christian. 75 00:04:00,820 --> 00:04:04,460 A saltless Christian will take up space, but 76 00:04:04,460 --> 00:04:08,160 be good for nothing, nothing of any eternal 77 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:11,700 worth, and if a saltless Christian continues in 78 00:04:11,700 --> 00:04:16,279 a spiritual state of further deterioration, then he 79 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:19,620 risks what we read in verse 35 of 80 00:04:19,620 --> 00:04:22,220 our chapter here dealing with salt. 81 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:26,340 Listen to what Jesus says about the saltless 82 00:04:26,340 --> 00:04:26,840 Christian. 83 00:04:27,840 --> 00:04:30,380 It is neither fit for the land, nor 84 00:04:30,380 --> 00:04:33,300 yet for the dunghill, but men cast it 85 00:04:33,300 --> 00:04:33,720 out. 86 00:04:34,220 --> 00:04:36,820 He that hath ears to hear, let him 87 00:04:36,820 --> 00:04:37,360 hear. 88 00:04:37,940 --> 00:04:40,680 What Jesus is saying here is a warning 89 00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:44,640 to backsliders who remain in their condition of 90 00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:48,840 spiritual declension because there comes the danger of 91 00:04:48,840 --> 00:04:50,880 falling into apostasy. 92 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:54,120 I reckon it is here where a good 93 00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:56,720 number of our churches rest, right on the 94 00:04:56,720 --> 00:04:58,160 verge of apostasy. 95 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:02,920 They have for years slowly deteriorated bit by 96 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:06,460 bit by this compromise with the world and 97 00:05:06,460 --> 00:05:10,120 by that conformity to sin, and slowly but 98 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:14,060 surely they gradually lost their savor. 99 00:05:14,740 --> 00:05:17,480 The lost were no longer being impacted for 100 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:21,080 eternity in their midst, and the young people 101 00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:23,320 of the church couldn't wait to get old 102 00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:27,580 enough to move away from those saltless Christians. 103 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:31,540 I've known people in the church who will 104 00:05:31,540 --> 00:05:34,520 stop you in the hallway and talk your 105 00:05:34,520 --> 00:05:38,260 ear off with the most unimportant nonsense because 106 00:05:38,260 --> 00:05:42,320 they have lost their savor years ago, and 107 00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:43,960 now they're just boars. 108 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:47,320 Heaven help the ones who end up in 109 00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:50,300 a Sunday school class under such a saltless 110 00:05:50,300 --> 00:05:50,980 Christian. 111 00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:54,600 Sitting in there is like eating cardboard. 112 00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:57,440 No flavor and no nourishment. 113 00:05:58,140 --> 00:06:01,580 I'm afraid to say there are some pastors 114 00:06:01,580 --> 00:06:04,280 like that as well who have lost their 115 00:06:04,280 --> 00:06:09,580 savor years ago, and folks attend on Sunday 116 00:06:09,580 --> 00:06:13,560 out of duty and habit more than interest 117 00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:15,480 and spiritual nourishment. 118 00:06:16,580 --> 00:06:18,980 I long for the day, friends, where God 119 00:06:18,980 --> 00:06:21,960 in his mercy will send us a powerful 120 00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:25,960 revival that makes us all salty again, and 121 00:06:25,960 --> 00:06:28,500 we'd be so full of savor that we 122 00:06:28,500 --> 00:06:31,060 will have an effect on folks by just 123 00:06:31,060 --> 00:06:33,600 spending time with them that they will leave 124 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:37,500 our presence more thirsty for Jesus, just like 125 00:06:37,500 --> 00:06:41,740 the psalmist declared, as the heart paneth after 126 00:06:41,740 --> 00:06:45,400 the water brooks, so paneth my soul after 127 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:46,700 thee, O God. 128 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:50,640 O great God, come visit your vine by 129 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:53,740 your presence, and touch us, O Lord, with 130 00:06:53,740 --> 00:06:57,400 some of your power, by your spirit, and 131 00:06:57,400 --> 00:07:01,100 make us salty Christians who make this world 132 00:07:01,100 --> 00:07:02,520 thirsty for thee. 133 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:03,480 Amen.