Lev 2:13, 'Every grain offering of yours, moreover, you shall season with salt, so that the salt of the covenant of your God shall not be lacking from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt. 
    	This morning, we have the detailing of the manner in which the grain offering is to be given to the Lord. As we read in verse 2, And the priest shall offer it up in smoke as its memorial portion on the altar, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the Lord. If offered properly, it will be a memorial portion that is a soothing aroma to the Lord. This matter of a memorial offering that pleased God required that salt be used as a means of giving it that element of being extraordinary and exceptional unto the Lord. 
Salt, in that day, was not as common as it is today. It was regarded as very valuable, to the point that in the days of the Roman Empire, the soldiers were paid with salt rather than with gold or silver. They could then use it anywhere for trade, no matter what country or territory in which they were serving. It was used for keeping food from spoiling and for adding flavor to that which was lacking in taste, making the stores of provisions last longer especially in times of famine and drought. 
Therefore, when we read the need for salt to be added to the grain offering, it was something that made the offering all the more valuable and special unto the Lord. It showed that God was worthy of the best that the people had to give. 
We first dealt with this in Ex 30:35+36, when we looked at the manner in which the incense was to be offered unto the Lord. There, too, it was required that salt played a significant part in the formulation of the incense, making it all the more valuable and holy and unique unto the Lord. It was one of the key elements that made the burning of the incense and the place of meeting holy and sanctified. Ex 30:35+36, And with it you shall make incense, a perfume, the work of a perfumer, salted, pure, and holy. And you shall beat some of it very fine, and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting, where I shall meet with you; it shall be most holy to you. 
	It was to be treated with honor and purity and the valuation of God being worthy of the sacrifice that was part of using the salt in the offering and the incense. This was a most costly aspect that meant that the people were giving God from the substance of which they had very little and which could serve their physical needs against the ravages of starvation and famine. Yet, all that was set aside in order to show God the honor and the reverence and the value that He held within their hearts and minds. It was of greater significance to them to give the salt to God than to hoard it unto themselves. 
	This brings to the forefront just how much we value God in our lives. To us, the idea of using salt for offerings and incense is of little consequence because it is so plentiful and common today. But what are those elements that we now cherish in our lives that would truly be a sacrifice with which to honor God and to show Him that He does mean more to us than anything of this world. That is the sense that we need to grasp when reading these passages in scripture. It was a tremendous surrender on the part of the people to bring their grain offerings, flavored with salt, and to make the incense with salt as a key component. What are the equivalent elements of our lives that bring to the forefront our love and adoration and honor and respect and desire after God, giving to Him of those things which we most cherish if not for the love we have for God?
	This is something that we need to take to the Lord individually and corporately in order to bring Him the very best that we have to offer Him. We have read of the need for the sacrificial animals to be perfect and without blemish. We have before us the aspect of the value of the salt as well as all the gold and materials freely offered in the building of the Tent of Meeting. The people gave freely and unreservedly of the depth of their treasuries and valuables for the sake of blessing God. Can we content ourselves with doing any less in our lives?
	Please let it be clearly and sincerely understood that I am not pleading for money or donations or anything like that! I am asking each one of us to go before the Lord with earnest searching as to what He requires of us. Be it our time, our energy, our physical resources, our comfortable patterns of living, or our preconceived notions and ideas of how to live on this earth. Are we willing and ready to divest ourselves of those nearest and dearest things which will serve to bring honor and glory and adoration to Our Lord God Almighty? Does God mean everything to us or are there things in our lives which we will cling to no matter what the Lord requires? It is the principle of how much do we cherish God as our Everything! 
	This then brings us to the fact that the Levites were not given parcels of territory as the tribes divided up the area of the Promised Land. As we read in Num 18:19+20, The Lord had something far greater and more honoring to them than fields or acreage. Num 18:19+20, All the offerings of the holy gifts, which the sons of Israel offer to the Lord, I have given to you and your sons and your daughters with you, as a perpetual allotment. It is an everlasting covenant of salt before the Lord to you and your descendants with you." Then the Lord said to Aaron, "You shall have no inheritance in their land, nor own any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel. 
    	The Lord signified, by the covenant of salt, that through the offerings of that most valuable commodity, the Levities would receive the Lord as their portion and inheritance. They were given far more than all the tribes, in part because of their faithfulness unto God. Remember when Moses called for those who were for the Lord to go throughout the camp and destroy the cancerous growth of the idolatry and that malignant offence to God. The Levites stood with Moses for the testimony of the Lord and performed the killing of those who had defiled themselves before the golden calf. 
	Their reward was this covenant of salt. One of the key aspects was its perpetual nature. It was an everlasting covenant of the blessing of the Lord and the people in their constant supply of salt for the priests to use in the offerings and incense. The priests were given their portion of the sustenance that was of the best of the land, both animal and crops, and it was all to be flavored for them with the finest and the most treasured of the cultural necessities, salt. 
The honor that was afforded the Lord in these offerings became the inheritance of the priests to enjoy and to be their provision in the Promised Land. As they blessed the Lord, so the people blessed the priests with the best of the best. The Levites had the blessing of being in the direct presence of God and of knowing His Law and His ways and His glory as their daily portion. He made Himself their inheritance and signified it with the precious element of salt, forever and forever. 
	This truth of the endlessness of the covenant of salt was reemphasized in 2 Chron 13:5. After the split of the kingdom, King Abijah of Judah was besieged by King Jeroboam and the nation of Israel to the north. Abijah called out to those northerners and made the following declaration, little knowing the full impact of his words. 2 Chron 13:5, "Do you not know that the Lord God of Israel gave the rule over Israel forever to David and his sons by a covenant of salt? In the ensuing battle, the Lord routed the army of the north and gave complete victory to Judah.
	The declaration of the everlasting kingship coming down from David was the proclamation of the Lordship of Jesus Christ as the descendant of the lineage of David to rule forevermore. This was the covenant of salt which sealed this order of the royal heritage of Jesus of Nazareth and His reign over Heaven and earth forever and forever. 
	Along with the covenant of salt, heralding the eternal reign of Christ, this salt also contains the idea and the virtue of being purifying. In its use throughout scripture it is seen as that which causes purity to spring forth as it is applied. 2 Kings 2:19-22 is an example of this as Elisha used salt to purify the waters of Jericho. 2 Kings 2:19-22, Then the men of the city said to Elisha, "Behold now, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees; but the water is bad, and the land is unfruitful." And he said, "Bring me a new jar, and put salt in it." So they brought it to him. And he went out to the spring of water, and threw salt in it and said, "Thus says the Lord, 'I have purified these waters; there shall not be from there death or unfruitfulness any longer.'" So the waters have been purified to this day, according to the word of Elisha which he spoke. 
	Salt, within scripture, as we have seen, held this aspect of bringing purity into a situation. This may well be because of its curative use with food that made food edible, even if it had not been so before the salt was applied. It was used to purify the waters, as evidenced in this passage. It was also used as terminology to bring about a purity of all that it touched, as in the following words of Our Lord recorded in Mark 9:49+50. There is conveyed the sense that when something or someone is salted, it is a cause for bringing out all the impurities and causing a wholesomeness and cleanliness to spring forth.
	Mark 9:49+50, "For everyone will be salted with fire. "Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another." Our Lord makes very manifest that salt, just like fire, causes the inner contamination of a person to be drawn out and eliminated. When we go through the trials and tribulations of life, the fires of testing as we call them, those fiery ordeals burn away all the dross and impurities and leave behind only the disinfected and spotless inner core of who we are in Christ. It is the same manifestation as salt purifies and eliminates anything that is tainted and adulterated and infected within us. We are salted with fire in order to manifest the purity of Jesus Christ Alive and glorified in our lives. Everything else needs to be done away with in order for the purity of Christ to shine forth as the …memorial portion on the altar, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the Lord.
	And please note what the Lord has to say about the aftereffects of this salting process…and be at peace with one another. This divine work of our lives being salted should result in a manner of dealing with one another that is characterized by peace. We have seen so much of families and members of the church at odds with one another, even to the point of splintering apart and becoming irreconcilably estranged. 
This ought not to be. When we are dealing with each other, there should be the purity in evidence, which will always cause only the holiness of God to be evidenced. As we read in Ex. 30, the result of the salt of God’s work in our hearts and minds and beings is to be …salted, pure, and holy. That is the point and the purpose of how we come into this living relationship together in Jesus Christ. Of course there are going to times of disagreement and issues, but how we handle them becomes the focal point. Do we let them bring in dissension, or do we go together to the Lord and ask Him to salt the situation and to make His purity and His manifest will reign in each and every circumstance? 
In Matt 5:13, The Lord dealt with the value that we have on this earth when we do not seek Him and do not ask for His will to rule in our lives and in our fellowship and in our dealings with one another. His response is in the same context of the use of salt and the value of salt that has lost its savor. Matt 5:13, "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? It is good for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. 
	We are those testimonies of His excellence and His purity and His Holiness in this realm. That is the call that is upon us in all our dealings with each other and with those who do not know Christ as Savior and Lord. We represent Him on this earth. If we do not put forth the full and appropriate witness of Him in our lives, we truly serve no purpose and have lost our effect of being those evidences of the difference that it makes to live by Jesus Christ. There will be no manifested witness in the manner of how we live our lives and therefore our testimonies will be …good for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.
	In Col 4:6, the Apostle Paul brings to the forefront of this discussion the way that we need to conduct our lives before others, even to the point of how we converse with others on a daily basis. Col 4:6, Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned, as it were, with salt, so that you may know how you should respond to each person. The course of our lives is even to the depth of how we talk to those whom the Lord brings into our sphere of influence. This includes those who need to hear the gospel, but it also includes our spouses and our children and our siblings and our parents. There is no distinction in the course of the Lord’s applying the work of His salting process into the hearts and the minds and the mouths and the thoughts of His people. 
Please ask the Lord to bring forth the full measure of His work in our lives, especially with respect to how we are to give Him everything in the course of our walk on this earth. Nothing is to be too valuable in our lives that we would hesitate for Him to use His salting process to cause us to declare that He is worthy of all that we are and do and say and think. So be it. 
'Every grain offering of yours, moreover, you shall season with salt, so that the salt of the covenant of your God shall not be lacking from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt. Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Ps 115:17+18. The dead do not praise the Lord, Nor do any who go down into silence; But as for us, we will bless the Lord From this time forth and forever. Praise the Lord! Amen.