Vance Havner Sermons

Why does our church keep making the same mistakes?

Should we confront our pastor or just keep quiet to keep peace?

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(1). Salt of the Earth

"Ye are the salt of the earth" (Matt.5:13)

It might have seemed ridiculous to a casual bystander for Jesus to say to a handful of ordinary men, "You are the salt of the earth and I am sending you out to permeate and infiltrate and season the whole world." Yet that little band, that pinch or salt, started something that has survived the centuries and changed the history of mankind.

Our Lord used the simplest figures of speech. Nothing is plainer, more universal and old-fashioned than salt. It is such a common commodity that we take it for granted, but if suddenly no salt could be had, what a difference that would make! What would life be without salt! A little boy said, "Salt is what tastes bad when you don't have it." Christians are the salt of the earth and we ought to make a difference.

1. Salt has a seasoning influence.

There ought to be a flavor, a tang, a relish, and a zest about us Christians. Someone has said that our main trouble today is not that our doctrine is false, but that our experience is flat.

2. Salt preserves.

Civilization has been saved from destruction by the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit in Christians. Salt prevents decay and restrains corruption. One godly person in a group will restrain evil conversation.

3. Salt purifies and cleanses.

The best gargle for a sore throat is pain salt water. The church of Jesus Christ has had a purifying influence wherever it has gone. You may think that your community is in a bad state, but take out the church and you would not want to live there.

4. Salt heals.

Lives are changed, souls saved, homes rescued from disaster, broken hearts mended, sorrows eased, burdens lifted, sick bodies and minds made well because of the antiseptic and therapeutic power of the Holy Spirit working through God's people, the salt of the earth.

5. Salt creates thirst.

God's people should develop on the hearts of men a desire to know God. We ought so to live that others would want the peace and joy they see in us. Does anybody want to be a Christian like you? The best argument for Christianity is a Christian.

6. Salt irritates.

When the salt of God's truth is rubbed into this diseased old world, sick souls may smart. When the light is turned on, some will wince. The devil hates the Gospel and fights back… We are not the sugar of the earth - but we are salt and we will not be welcomed by a generation full of wounds, bruises and putrefying sores.

We need to get into the salt business and we must start with a few. this is God's program today. It sounds old-fashion, but salt is old-fashioned, sin is old-fashioned and so is the Gospel. We have been tickling palates with fancy flavors, spicy relishes, and spicy recipes borrowed from the world. Too many pulpit gourmets and theological epicures with menus from Hollywood are trying to please the jaded appetites of a fed up humanity. We need old-fashioned salt, and if we do not start producing more of it in our churches, we shall be good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men.

(Used by permission from The Vance Havner Notebook, p.79-80)

(2). The Man God Uses

God is on the lookout today for a man who will be:

1. Quiet enough.

The man God uses must be still and know that He is God. We live in a world hysterical with moral and spiritual delirium tremens. The human race is ajitter with a nervous and mental breakdown. And even of their time in a glorified much-ado-about-nothing. But we are not here to catch the spirit of the age. We are to counteract the spirit of the age; and many an Elijah, collapsed under the juniper, must be summoned to Horeb to learn the lesson of the still, small voice.

2. Brave enough.

And old conductor stood at a gate in a railroad station on a bitterly cold night, leisurely punching tickets while restless passengers stamped their feet and grumbled.
"You are an unpopular man tonight, conductor," said one as he passed the gate.
The old conductor replied, "There is only one man with whom I am interested in being in good standing, and that is the superintendent of this railroad.
The man of God needs something of that spirit today.

God pity the preacher who has grown cross-eyed watching certain faces in his congregation to observe whether the message is acceptable or not. "The fear of man bringeth a snare" (Prov.29:25), and the chilly countenances of resentful listeners who must not be disturbed have taken the heart out of more preachers than have all the infidels and higher critics. Well did Spurgeon say, "We admire man who was firm in the faith four hundred years ago, but such a man is a nuisance today."

3. Honest enough.

I say "honest," for it is plain dishonesty to press upon others advice that you have never taken, and rankest hypocrisy to wax eloquent on glorious themes that have never been proved in personal experience.

"Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully" (Jer.48:10). And if to hear the Word and not do it is to deceive onesself (Jam.1:22), then twice deceived is he who not only hears but dares to preach what himself has never practiced. No sermon is so powerful as the preacher's life, and without it the testimony of lip is but sounding bras and clanging cymbal.

God is on the lookout for a man whose heart is perfect toward Him. will you be quiet enough to hear Him, brave enough to proclaim him and honest enough to obey Him?

(Used by permission from The Vance Havner Notebook, p.114 -116)

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