Old-Time Religion - King’s Heralds He Whispers His Love to Me - Del Delker and Bob Seamount I Need Jesus - King’s Heralds Can the World See Jesus In You? - King’s Heralds

Old-Time Religion - King’s Heralds He Whispers His Love to Me - Del Delker and Bob Seamount I Need Jesus - King’s Heralds Can the World See Jesus In You? - King’s Heralds

Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.

Voice Of Prophecy

H.M.S. Richards

The Salt of the Earth

&ldquo;Lift up the trumpet and loud let it ring:
&nbsp;Jesus is coming again!
Cheer up, ye pilgrims, be joyful and sing:
Jesus is coming again!
&nbsp;
This is the Voice of Prophecy &ndash; a voice crying in the wilderness of these modern days. Prepare ye the way of the Lord.
&nbsp;
&ldquo;Coming again, coming again,
Jesus is coming again!&rdquo;
&nbsp;
From our Voice of Prophecy Studios in Los Angeles, California, we welcome you to this half hour of inspiration, again today we&rsquo;ll hear the music of the Kings Herald&ndash;Del Delker and Brad Braley. The Voice of Prophecy speaker is H.M.S. Richards.
&nbsp;
Give me that old time religion (3x) And it's good enough for me
&nbsp;
It was good for Paul and Silas (3x)
And it's good enough for me
&nbsp;
Give me that old time religion (3x) And it's good enough for me
&nbsp;
It was good for the prophet Daniel (3x)
And it's good enough for me
&nbsp;
Give me that old time religion (3x) And it's good enough for me
&nbsp;
Makes me love everybody (3x) And it's good enough for me
&nbsp;
Give me that old time religion (3x) And it's good enough for me
&nbsp;
It will take us all to heaven (3x)
And it's good enough for me
&nbsp;
Give me that old time religion (3x) And it's good enough for me
&nbsp;
Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for thy blessing upon us. We come with this broadcast to honor Thy Name. We pray that Thou will remember in mercy every listener and may this broadcast of Thy Word bring help to each one who hears. In Christ's name.
&nbsp;
There is a place of quiet rest, Near to the heart of God:
A place where sin cannot molest, Near to the heart of God. 
&nbsp;
O Jesus, blest Redeemer, Sent from the heart of God
Hold us who bow before Thee, Near to the heart of God.
&nbsp;
Amen. 
&nbsp;
(He Whispers His Love to Me - Del Delker and Bob Seamount)
&nbsp;
&rsquo;Tis so sweet just to know that along the way Jesus walks by my side all the livelong day, And He knows when the shadows begin to low&rsquo;r, And He whispers His love to me o&rsquo;er and o&rsquo;er. 
&nbsp;
He whispers His love to me, He whispers His love to me; Lest I should stray from Him away, He whispers His love to me.
&nbsp;
Oh, His voice is so wondrously sweet to me! There&rsquo;s no music on earth has such melody; There&rsquo;s no joy that can come to the human heart Like the joy that His love ever doth impart.
&nbsp;
He whispers His love to me, He whispers His love to me; Lest I should stray from Him away, He whispers His love to me.
&nbsp;
The King's Herald will now express how inadequate we all feel in all our strength and say, &ldquo;I Need Jesus.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
I need Jesus, my need I now confess; No friend like Him in times of deep distress; I need Jesus, the need I gladly own; Though some may bear their load alone, &nbsp;Yet I need Jesus.
&nbsp;
I need Jesus, I need Jesus, &nbsp;I need Jesus every day; Need Him in the sunshine hour, Need Him when the storm-clouds low&rsquo;r; Every day along my way, Yes, I need Jesus.
&nbsp;
I need Jesus, I need Him to the end; No one like Him, He is the sinner&rsquo;s friend; I need Jesus, no other friend will do; So constant, kind, so strong and true, &nbsp;&nbsp;Yes, I need Jesus.
&nbsp;
I need Jesus, I need Jesus, &nbsp;I need Jesus every day; Need Him in the sunshine hour, Need Him when the storm-clouds low&rsquo;r; Every day along my way, Yes, I need Jesus.
&nbsp;
This week HMS Richards and the King&rsquo;s Herald will continue their tour through the eastern part of the United States. See them at these Voice of Prophecy rallies. Tonight in New York City at the office of Seventh-Day Adventist Church at 101 West 123 Street at the New York Evangelistic Center on West 46, right off Times Square Monday evening; Trenton, New Jersey, Tuesday evening; Allentown Pennsylvania on Wednesday evening; August 20, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Thursday evening; and in Washington D.C. on Friday evening and Saturday. Watch out newspapers for the exact location of these meetings.
&nbsp;
Del Delker and I will be at the Voice of Prophecy rally at Prescott, Arizona at the Seventh Day Adventist&rsquo;s camp grounds this next weekend. If you live in any of these areas, we invite you to attend.
&nbsp;
Now, here is H.M.S. Richards. His subject &ndash; The Salt of the Earth.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;A fountain pen salesman was writing up an order for 500 pens which he had just received from a well-to-do merchant. Suddenly the storekeeper exclaimed, &ldquo;Hold on, cancel that order!&rdquo; Then he turned away on a customer. The salesman went away in disgust. Later on, the merchant&rsquo;s bookkeeper asked him, &ldquo;Why did you cancel that fountain pen order?&rdquo; &ldquo;Why? Because he talked fountain pens to me for half an hour using a number of strong arguments and then he booked my order with a lead pencil, his practice didn't agree with his profession.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
And that brings us to the subject of our talk - the very words of Jesus, &ldquo;Ye are the salt of the earth.&rdquo; Let us read the whole verse, &ldquo;Ye are the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost his savor wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden underfoot of man.&rdquo; Matthew 5:13.
&nbsp;
Someone says, &ldquo;Well, salt is salt. It cannot lose its saltiness as long as it is salt. There must be something wrong with this illustration.&rdquo; But don't be too hasty. Jesus was speaking to the people of his time and using an illustration that they can understand.
&nbsp;
Remember this; while pure salt cannot lose its savor, the salt used in Palestine was not pure. It was not the fine chemical substance that we have today. The savorless salt in this parable refers to the salt in common use at that time. With most of the sodium chloride washed out of it. In those days salt was gathered from marshes along the sea shore or of inland lakes and the crude facilities for gathering it resulted in the presence of many impurities. In contact with the ground or exposed to rain, sun, the highly soluble salts soon disappeared and left only the incipit impurities. It is then good for nothing and was thrown away.
&nbsp;
William Thompson who travelled all over Palestine about 100 years ago says, in his land and the book page 381, &ldquo;I saw a large quantities of this savorless salt literally thrown into the street to be trodden under foot of men and beasts.
&nbsp;
Long, long ago, Pliny the great Roman writer said, &ldquo;There is nothing more useful than salt and sunshine.&rdquo; And these are the two things that Jesus mentions side by side, right here in the 5th chapter of Matthew. For the next verse says, &ldquo;Ye are the light of the world.&rdquo; &nbsp;
Salt and sunshine. Now salt gives flavor to food and preserves from corruption. It makes food more palatable. To one who has to go in a salt free diet certainly can testify to this fact. It takes quite a while to become accustomed to eating food without salt.
&nbsp;
Jesus is speaking here to His disciples and of course to all professing Christians when He says, &ldquo;Ye are the salt, the salt of the earth.&rdquo; And this brings us to a tremendously important fact: a Christian is not called by God merely for his own salvation; but he is to become an agent in the saving of others. God's object in choosing people before all the world is not only that they might be His sons and daughters but that through them the world might receive the grace that bring salvation.
&nbsp;
God did not choose Abraham in order merely to save him but to make him a medium of blessing to others. In Jesus&rsquo; high priestly prayer recorded in the 17th chapter of John, the prayer which He offered just before His crucifixion, He said, &ldquo;for their sakes (that is for the sake of His disciples), I sanctify Myself that they also might be sanctified through the truth.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;Christians who are purified through the truth will possess saving qualities that preserve the world from absolute corruption; but we must remember that salt must be mingled with the substance to which it is added or it will not preserve it. It must penetrate it. It must be infused into it in order to preserve it. So it is through personal contact and association that men are reached by the saving power of the Gospel. They are not saved in masses but as individuals. Personal influence is a power. We must come close to those whom we desire to benefit.
&nbsp;
The salt in this parable must represent the vital power of a Christian - the love of Jesus in his heart, the righteousness of Christ prevailing his entire life.
&nbsp;
Christians must not disassociate themselves from people for if they do they will not be able to benefit them. Christians are not to hibernate; not to go away often isolation and live apart from their fellow men. What good then could they do to others? Surely as the poet said, &ldquo;A Christian should live in a house by the side of the road and be a friend to man.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
The Christian should be sociable with his Christianity. He should love people, both good and bad, and endeavor to influence them for righteousness.
&nbsp;
Years ago, Dr. William Temple, in addressing a group of newly ordained ministers said, &ldquo;Young men, believe me, you will make more people Christians by being Christians yourselves than you will by all the sermons that you will preach.&rdquo;
Remember this, Christian friend: You are the best Christian that somebody will ever know. You are the only Bible some people will ever read. One night, just before he went to bed the late Captain Bickel, met at the deck house door a Ruffian who had been wonderfully converted on one of his voyages. Although the captain was tired, he had a little talk with this sailor and asked him if he could take a Bible to a certain man the next day. He shook his head, &ldquo;No, no, Captain. He doesn't need that.&rdquo; &ldquo;Why not?&rdquo; &ldquo;Because it's too soon, that&rsquo;s your Bible, and thank God, its mine too but it's not his Bible.&rdquo; &ldquo;What do you mean?&rdquo; &ldquo;Why? Simply that he has another Bible, you are his Bible. He's watching you. As you fail, Christ fails; if you live, so Christ is revealed to him.&rdquo; Later on in writing to a friend, Captain Bickel said, &ldquo;I didn't sleep that night. I've been called a thief, a liar, a foreign spy, a traitor, a devil in both public and private that had never flinched; but this was something new. As you live, so Christ lives in that man's soul in that house, in that village in 400 villages; as you fail to live the Christ life, the Savior crucified again, no wonder, I couldn't sleep.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
That's the sum and substance of it, friends. I mean you, Christians; you are the salt of the earth. The lack of conversion, the lack of revival, the lack of power in our churches is not entirely the preacher's fault. We are all in this thing together.
&nbsp;
If the salt has lost its savor mankind will not be blessed; souls will not be one; the corruption of sin will go on hindered in the world. When the power of the grace of God has departed from our hearts and we become cold and Christ-less Christians, people are repealed by our profession; are not drawn to God.
&nbsp;
The spiritual food we offer them is incipit and disagreeable, even disgusting at times. It is to such professed Christians that Jesus says, &ldquo;I would thou art cold or hot; so then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew the out of my mouth.&rdquo; Revelation 3:15.
&nbsp;
I shall never forget my first visit to Hyde Park in London. Almost every day but especially on weekends; it's filled with people, pouring out their views on every conceivable subject. Some time ago a Salvation Army captain was preaching there and a man in the crowd interrupted him, &ldquo;We haven't anything against Jesus of Nazareth,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but we have something against you Christians because you aren&rsquo;t up to sample.&rdquo; There it is. We must be up to sample. We must really and truly represent the Lord Jesus honestly and sincerely. If we are as salt that has lost its savor, we are not only entirely worthless; we actually hinder the work of Christ on earth. By our lack of the grace of Christ, we testify to the world of the truth which we claim to believe as no sanctifying power because it never changed us. In this way, we make of no effect the Word of God.
&nbsp;
The Apostle said,
&ldquo;If I speak with the tongue of men and of angels, but have not love, I have am become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. &nbsp;And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And if I bestow all my goods&rdquo; First Corinthians 13.
&nbsp;
It does not profit others either; but when this love of Christ is cherished in the heart, it transforms the whole character. It's a continual blessing to everybody. It is this and this only that can make us the salt of the earth.
&nbsp;
Said one of friends of the Lord,
&nbsp;
Not only in the words you say Not only in your deeds confessed But in the most unconscious way Is Christ expressed To me twas not the truth you taught To you so clear to me so dim But when you came to me You brought a sense of Him And from His light He beckons me And from your lips His love is shed Til I lose sight of you and see The Christ instead Four (4) ministers are discussing various translations of the Bible: one likes the King James Version best because of it's simple classical English; another like the American revised because it's more literal and nearer the original Hebrew and Greek; still another likes Moffat's translation because of its up to date vocabulary. The fourth minister was silent but finally said, &ldquo;I like my mother's translation best because she translated it into life and it was the most convincing translation I've ever seen.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
&ldquo;If the salt have lost its savor wherewith shall it be salted?&rdquo; asked Jesus. A nominal Christian, a Christian merely in name, cannot pass on to others what he doesn't have himself.
&nbsp;
It's interesting to remember that salt was added to every sacrifice offered in the ancient temple of God. As we read in Leviticus 2:13, without salt, the sacrifice was unacceptable to God because it typified the righteousness of Christ. In order for our lives to be a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God as the Apostle says in Romans 12:1, they must be preserved by the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. Otherwise, as far as being a blessing to the world, we will be as, He said, &ldquo;good for nothing,&rdquo; positive detriment to the cause of the kingdom of heaven.
&nbsp;
When salt is found to be impure, it must be cleansed and so with us. It cannot be used until it's purified so with us. Nothing corrupt or unclean can live in the presence of salt; so with a Christian who has a changed nature. Soul has its own peculiar taste; Jesus said that His own people are to be like that. They are to be different. They will bring wholesome flavor into earthly things. The Church of God is a fellowship of salt. We are to contribute to each other's health. There's one other attribute of salt that we shall mention here.
&nbsp;
A Bible study group of college girls was recently discussing this familiar passage which we have quoted today, the question was asked: why a Christians are like salt? All thought, of course, of its preservative quality which we have mentioned. Then a Chinese girl in the group spoke up quietly and suggested salt creates thirst. That truth went home to the heart of every girl there. One of the leaders afterward said, &ldquo;Our lives should be such that people will come to us and ask us to explain our lives because they want to be like us.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
Radio friend; let us ask the question of our own hearts. Does my life create in others that kind of desire, a thirst that only the Water of Life can satisfy? Well, we might put it this way: can the world see Jesus in me?
&nbsp;
Do we live so close to the Lord today, Passing to and fro on life&rsquo;s busy way, That the world in us can a likeness see To the Man of Calvary? 
&nbsp;
Can the world see Jesus in me? Can the world see Jesus in you? Does your love to Him ring true, And your life and service, too? Can the world see Jesus in you?
&nbsp;
As an open book they our lives will read, To our words and acts giving daily heed; Will they be attracted, or turn away From the Christ we love today?
&nbsp;
Can the world see Jesus in me? Can the world see Jesus in you? Does your love to Him ring true, And your life and service, too? Can the world see Jesus in you?
&nbsp;
Next week, the Voice of Prophecy will bring you another broadcast. So continue to look up and go forward in faith.
&nbsp;
Have faith in God with new hope, new life, new birth
Have faith in God, treasures of infinite worth
Have faith in God who knows the salt of the earth
Have faith, dear friend, in God.

Back to Menu

The Salt of the Earth

Description

Sponsor

Sound Doctrine