Series Overview, Part 2

The point: May God grant that Christ will become your Savior and friend in your youth. You may testify that there is no friend like Jesus.

Martin challenges children to find anyone over 50 who can sing a song about the devil caring for them, contrasting it with the song about Jesus, to highlight the devil's destructive nature.

Dear children, as you're thinking about friends and what friends you should choose, I challenge you, find anyone over 50 who has not known Christ as his friend through his life and ask him if he can sing a song like that about the devil.

0:05 - 0:23 Read in full sermon

The point: In the midst of suffering for the sake of Christ, continue to involve yourself in the life of the church.

Martin notes the determination of suffering Christians worldwide to remain involved in church life, even at the risk of their lives, illustrating the importance of corporate worship.

One of the most moving... One of the most moving things that I have discovered as I have sought to become more aware of our suffering brethren throughout the world, is their determination to be churchmen and churchwomen, even if it costs them their lives.

11:31 - 11:48 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The fifth statement highlights the evangelistic thrust of suffering, urging believers to 'show forth' God's excellencies through their good works and chaste behavior, even when…

Martin uses the analogy of 'show and tell' from modern education to describe how believers are to declare God's excellencies both by their words and their godly lives.

And it means to show by telling. Now you thought that show and tell was a recent innovation of modern educational systems. No, Peter says you are show and tell Christians. And God has made you what you are, to the end, that you might show forth by telling.

15:16 - 15:38 Read in full sermon

The point: See beyond what the evil intention of men's hearts and men's fingers and men's telephone calls and the rest mean and say from the heart if the will of God so will that you suffer and embrace it as the good acceptable and…

Martin quotes Elizabeth Elliot's response to a question about God's purpose in her husband Jim's martyrdom ('I don't have a clue'), illustrating that God's will in suffering is often inscrutable to us.

I was reading the other day an article in which Mrs. Elizabeth Elliot Grin was being interviewed and the interviewer asked her a number of questions that would let you know something of the heart of that noble woman and the question was asked something along this line Mrs. Elliot Mrs. Grin do you do you know what God's purpose was in allowing your first husband Jim to be martyred when he was martyred?

32:37 - 33:11 Read in full sermon

The point: See beyond what the evil intention of men's hearts and men's fingers and men's telephone calls and the rest mean and say from the heart if the will of God so will that you suffer and embrace it as the good acceptable and…

Martin recounts the story of missionary John G. Paton, whose home was surrounded by evil men who later testified to seeing an army of 'shining ones,' demonstrating God's supernatural protection and control over persecutors.

But did she have any question that God allowed whatever spirit moved that particular Alka Indian to take his spear if that's the way Jim's life was taken and thrust it through his bowels? She has no doubt that the hell that Alka Indian was upheld by Almighty God and God could have arrested it as he thought to thrust it. Read the life of missionary John G. Paton of the Hebrides and evil men at times surrounded his home determined to kill him and they ran away in fear and later on upon inquiry they would testify that they saw an army of shining ones about his house. You see folks this is not jus...

33:23 - 34:20 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin illustrates God's inscrutable will through the early church's persecution in Jerusalem, showing how God used Saul's violence to scatter believers and spread the gospel to…

Martin uses the example of the early Christian church in Jerusalem, describing how God allowed persecution (Stephen's martyrdom, Saul's violence) to scatter believers, thereby fulfilling the Great Commission to spread the gospel beyond Jerusalem.

I could not help but think that I was wrong. Some of this as it's seen in the first baptism of open persecution that is let loose on the new Christian church in Jerusalem and here you may want to follow with me as I allude to several passages in those early days when the Spirit of God had come in power upon the 120 and they soon become approximately 3,120 and notice how it describes their life in Jerusalem in the face of God. Of many who have yet not come to faith, verse 46 of chapter 2, day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple. That's where they had their main congrega...

35:18 - 36:25 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin illustrates God's inscrutable will through the early church's persecution in Jerusalem, showing how God used Saul's violence to scatter believers and spread the gospel to…

Martin encourages listeners to 'let your imagination run out' and 'expound the white spaces' when considering the suffering of early Christians, making the historical account more vivid and impactful.

Think of it. Let your imagination run out. As Pastor Hartman said, let your mind expound the white spaces. Men and women, fathers, husbands, motherless children, seeing a mother dragged off, crying for her little ones.

39:14 - 39:34 Read in full sermon

Driving home: And all we need to know in any given crucible of suffering for the sake of Christ is that the ultimate reason for that suffering is the will of God. And let God, let God exegete His will in His own way and in His own tim…

Martin highlights how Paul's imprisonment, which persecutors might have seen as a victory, actually led to the writing of precious prison epistles, illustrating God's ability to use suffering for greater good.

And what happens to him? No sooner does he begin to witness than people with the same bigotry that he had against Christians begin to show up to him until eventually to be kept from being ripped to pieces and mugged and killed at their hands, he appeals to Caesar. And what happens? Can't you just see them laughing when Paul's taken off the field of gospel endeavor, stuck in prison?

41:10 - 41:31 Read in full sermon

The point: Let's not have pity parties for one another when we experience a little bit of suffering here. Yes, some evil words, some malicious pieces of paper in the mail, vicious rumors. That's not much.

Martin contrasts his own surgical scars with the 'marks of the Lord Jesus,' emphasizing that his personal sufferings are minor compared to true persecution for Christ.

That's not much. I can't yet say I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. I got some scars to show where the surgeons gone after me graciously on the operating table. And I'll have some more in a couple of weeks when they open up my shoulder to repair a torn rotator cuff.

43:06 - 43:26 Read in full sermon

The point: Let's not have pity parties for one another when we experience a little bit of suffering here. Yes, some evil words, some malicious pieces of paper in the mail, vicious rumors. That's not much.

Martin recounts the story of a 10-year-old African boy who was thrown into a fire for refusing to renounce Christ, providing a vivid example of bearing the 'marks of the Lord Jesus' through intense suffering.

But I can't say here's some marks I have for Christ. The elders watched a little video the other night where a little 10-year-old African boy pulled up his shirt and showed, showed the scarred skin on his abdomen because a group of men said, renounce Christ or we're going to throw you into that fire that we've built. And he said, I'm Christian. I will not renounce Christ.

43:26 - 43:57 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin quotes John Brown's reflection on finishing a long series of discourses, emphasizing the brevity of ministry, the certainty of accountability, and the need for both…

Martin quotes John Brown's eloquent reflections on concluding a long series of sermons, which expresses a feeling of sobriety and emphasizes the brevity of ministry and the certainty of accountability for both preacher and hearers.

And then in addition to the gratitude and the sense of satisfaction mingled with sadness, I've been sobered as I've come to the end of this study. In the first of these two concluding studies, I was going to give you a quote from John Brown, the Scottish Presbyterian preacher and commentator whose commentary on first Peter has been a help to so many over several generations and certainly to me. But I have John Brown with me. And I want you to hear what he experienced.

51:06 - 51:39 Read in full sermon