what did Jesus mean by Everyone will be salted with Fire

The speaker discusses the phrase "everyone will be salted with fire" from the Bible. They explain that this phrase relates to all people and refers to the connection between fire and salt in the sacrifices of the Old Testament. Fire symbolizes total commitment to God, while salt symbolizes cleansing from sin and impurity. The speaker emphasizes that Jesus perfected the sacrificial law through His blood, but the concept of salt and fire can also be found in the New Testament. They conclude by stating that every person will be salted by fire, either through the fire of God's love or the fire of God's judgment, and encourage the listener to consider their choice and purpose in life. Welcome to our weekly exhortation. Thank you for joining me today. Thank you for your precious time. My name is Gila Beona, Servant of God, Servant of Jesus Christ. How are we to understand Jesus mind when he said, For everyone will be salted with fire. Praise the Lord. Jesus Christ was with his disciples in a house in Capernaum teaching them a lesson about true greatness. He said to them, For everyone will be salted with fire. How are we to understand Jesus mind? In Mark chapter 9 verse 49 to 50, the Lord Jesus says, For everyone will be salted with fire. Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another. Hallelujah. In the scriptures, a few verses have the reputation of being one of the most difficult passages in the Bible. Mark chapter 9 verse 49 is one of them. It has just a few words, but its meaning is not necessarily obvious. For everyone will be salted with fire. Hallelujah. The first thing to notice is that the statement relates to everyone. For everyone, everyone will be salted with fire. This verse applies to the entire human race on earth, not just the Christian but the non-Christian as well. Jesus Christ is talking about something that is going to affect every human being on earth. But what is this something that the Lord is talking about? What we can say at this point is that this something has to do with fire and salt because Jesus is talking about being salted with fire. Friend, notice here the conjunction of fire and salt. Fire and salt are put together in the same sentence. So then what? Well, that must mean something, right? If we can find out why salt and fire are together here, we will be very close to Jesus thinking when he said those words. How can we find it out then? Well, think about the Bible in its entirety. Where in the Word of God do we find fire and salt together? We can think of one place only, one place in the Bible, and it is in the sacrifice. Think especially of the Old Testament's sacrificial system. What we notice is that fire and salt come together on the altar of sacrifice. The Old Testament has a lot to say about sacrifices. The first seven chapters of Leviticus give detailed instructions to Israel for offering sacrifices to God. No sacrifice could ever be offered to God without salt. Salt must be found in every sacrifice. This is then burnt in the fire. In Leviticus chapter 2 verse 13, it is written, You shall season all your cereal offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be lacking from your cereal offering. With all your offerings, you shall offer salt. See, one thing is crystal clear. You see how salt, fire, and sacrifices come together. This means, without fire, there can be no sacrifice. The fire, I mean, the burnt offering symbolizes total commitment to God. If the sacrifice is not burnt, the smoke from the sacrifice will not ascend to God. A soothing aroma to the Lord, Leviticus chapter 1 verse 9. What about salt? Well, at the spiritual level, salt symbolizes the power to cleanse from sin, to cleanse from corruption, and hence it becomes an emblem of corruption and impurity. That is why no sacrifice in the Old Testament could be presented before God without the addition of salt. So, the ordinance is this, with all your offerings, you shall offer salt. Salt has to accompany every sacrifice. You can see the meaning of these requirements. Holiness and purity has to come with the sacrifice. This is, of course, what happens to us as Christians by the power of the gospel. As salt is used to preserve meat from spoiling, so does the gospel prevent man from being corrupted by sin. And as salt was indispensable to make sacrifices acceptable to God, so must we become salt by the Holy Spirit in offering ourselves as a living sacrifice to God. Praise the Lord! However, it is important to stress that no one is practicing the Old Testament sacrifice anymore. The sacrificial law is no longer relevant because Jesus had perfected all through His blood. Hebrew chapter 10 verse 14. But let me assure you that we find not only this conjunction of salt and fire in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament as well. Please let me show you. In the same month on the mount, in Matthew chapter 5 verse 13 to 14, after saying, You are the salt of the earth, Jesus goes on to say, You are the light of the world. You would agree with me that light is fire. Light was produced by burning oil in those days. So we find salt and fire together in the same month on the mount. What does that mean? Well, as we said, fire and salt come together on the altar of sacrifice. In the context of the same month on the mount, this means that every believer has to be a sacrifice. Jesus was saying that each one of His believers had to be a sacrifice to God. Remember, we are talking about sacrificial salts. Furthermore, when the Lord Jesus said, Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another, Mark chapter 9 verse 50, He was saying, Have this sacrificial salt in yourselves. This is what makes a disciple a true disciple. Listen friend, if you have lost the spirit of sacrifice, how are you going to live for one another? Because this is the essence of sacrifice, living for one another. Hallelujah. If you have the spirit of sacrifice in you, then you will be at peace with one another. Nobody will be arguing about who is the greatest. Remember that this section began with a conversation in which Jesus was speaking to His disciples. He asked them, What were you arguing about on the road? Mark chapter 9 verse 33. The disciples were embarrassed. They kept quiet because on the way, they had argued about who was the greatest, verse 34. They knew that it was a topic they should not have discussed. If we have the spirit of service, the spirit of sacrifice, we will not be interested in discussing the question of who is the greatest. Friend, I just want to let you know this. Every person is going to end up as a sacrifice to God's glory. And here, there is a decision to be made. God gave us the freedom to decide now what kind of sacrifice we are going to be. We have to choose between two kinds of sacrifice. You either choose to be a living sacrifice on earth, following the word of Paul in Romans chapter 12 verse 1, or you choose to be a dying sacrifice in hell. To give the healing and grace our hearts always hunger for. I want to conclude by saying that, in this message, we wanted to know what the Lord Jesus means when He says, everyone will be salted with fire. We said that, according to the Old Testament ordinances, fire and salt come together on the altar of sacrifice, and that no sacrifice could ever be offered to God without salt. We added a further comment saying that, in the context of a sermon on the mount, Matthew chapter 5 verse 13 to 14, every believer has to be a sacrifice to God, that is, when we choose to live in the fullness of God's purpose, and when we choose to fulfill His glory in our lives. In addition, we did mention that, fire and salt are essential of the Old Testament sacrificial system, and without either, there can be no sacrifice. And since salt and fire are essential elements of the sacrifices, everybody is going to be a sacrifice, the believer and the unbeliever. The Lord Jesus gives no choice. What is the point of the Lord Jesus when He says, for everyone will be salted with fire? Get this, a Christian is salted with fire when he offers himself as a sacrifice to God. But what about the non-Christian? How is he going to be salted with fire? Poor, a non-Christian is going to be salted with fire when he chooses to be a dying sacrifice in hell, that is, a sacrifice being destroyed in hell, like it is written in Matthew chapter 10 verse 28. Every person will be salted by fire. The ordinance is that every person will be salted by fire, either by the fire of God's love, or the fire of God's judgment. Friend, what is your choice today? Do you know what the direction of your life is? Do you know the purpose for which God created you? Or do you know the reason why you are here in the world today? Please think about that. I hope you enjoy this message. May God bless your understanding. If the Lord Jesus delays His coming, it will be with great pleasure, always with great pleasure, to share with you the word of God. Abundant blessings, shalom.