Unity of OT/NT and an Exhortation

In this part of the sermon: Pastor Martin introduces the sermon as the final part of a three-course meal, building on previous expositions of 1 Peter 1:10-12, which magnified salvation through prophetic…

The sermon is framed as the 'final course of a three-course meal,' with the 'food' taken from 1 Peter 1:10-12, illustrating the structured and progressive nature of the sermon series.

Now, believing that God has heard the prayer that together we have offered in His presence, that He would attend the preacher and the hearer, I'm not going to ask that we pray again, though there would certainly be no sin in so doing. But as we come to the ministry of the Word tonight, in a very real sense, our study in the Scriptures is the final course of a three-course meal. The food for this meal has been taken from the marketplace of 1 Peter 1, verses 10-12, verses in which Peter, magnifying the great salvation which God has given to His people, considers, Concerning that salvation, write...

0:13 - 1:37 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not cut yourselves off from the Old Testament as though it were irrelevant, inconsequential, or unnecessary; we need the whole Bible to make us whole Christians.

A child trying to cut off parts of a sunbeam because only the rays touching their face are relevant illustrates the folly of trying to separate the Old Testament from the New, emphasizing that the whole 'beam' (Scripture) is necessary for warmth and light.

One commentator very quaintly expressed it this way, and you kids perhaps can think of this in your own imagination. He said, half of a sunbeam, because only the rays that warm your face are relevant to you. Can you see a little kid out tomorrow, if it's a nice sunny day, running around with scissors, snapping the scissors, and you say, what are you doing? He said, well, I'm trying to cut off the sunbeam.

33:43 - 34:06 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not cut yourselves off from the Old Testament as though it were irrelevant, inconsequential, or unnecessary; we need the whole Bible to make us whole Christians.

The analogy of Old Testament 'fingers' pointing forward and New Testament 'fingers' pointing backward, all converging on Christ, illustrates the unified theme of Scripture.

They start way back in Genesis 1, and we need every single element in those rays of light that come out from the God of light. And we must never cut ourselves off from our Old Testament as though it were irrelevant, inconsequential, unnecessary. Another has expressed it this way, as the fingers of the Old Testament all point forward, and as the fingers of the New Testament point backward to the life history, the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and describe the mighty operations of the Spirit of God subsequent to Pentecost, all the fingers that point forward in the Old, and all the fi...

34:54 - 36:20 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not cut yourselves off from the Old Testament as though it were irrelevant, inconsequential, or unnecessary; we need the whole Bible to make us whole Christians.

The rising sun, gentle at dawn but blinding at noon, illustrates the progressive revelation of Christ from the Old Testament (gentle rays) to the New Testament (midday blaze), emphasizing it's the 'same sun' (same Christ).

They start way back in Genesis 1, and we need every single element in those rays of light that come out from the God of light. And we must never cut ourselves off from our Old Testament as though it were irrelevant, inconsequential, unnecessary. Another has expressed it this way, as the fingers of the Old Testament all point forward, and as the fingers of the New Testament point backward to the life history, the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and describe the mighty operations of the Spirit of God subsequent to Pentecost, all the fingers that point forward in the Old, and all the fi...

34:54 - 36:20 Read in full sermon

The point: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, having a full and ample place in all the chambers of your soul.

Having a 'carload of gold' (the completed Bible) in our backyard but only looking at a 'handful of pebbles' (neglecting deep study) illustrates the spiritual laziness of believers compared to the prophets' diligence.

the documents that tell us this is where this prophecy fit and this one fit and this is the fruition and this is the result and these are the privileges and it's all spread before us we have as it were a carload of gold in our backyard and so often we do nothing but look down at a handful of pebbles and never explore what God has deposited in grace at our very doorstep surely there is an exhortation that living now in this full blazing light of a completed revelatory expression of the mind of God concerning His Son we ought like the Psalmist who ever wrote Psalm 119 we're not certain of the hu...

44:27 - 45:54 Read in full sermon

The point: Lay down your arms, turn from your sin, and take the free gift of life and salvation in Christ.

From Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, the story of the man with the muck rake who looks only downward, preferring straws and dust to a celestial crown offered from above, illustrates the folly of unconverted persons who despise the gospel for worldly pursuits.

shut up quiet I don't want I want my darkness and my friend you know what hell is it's called outer there comes a point where God says you want the darkness you'll have the darkness don't you see in what the angels are doing the rebuke to your folly don't you feel something of the wretchedness of the darkness of being a gospel despiser let me close by taking you to that scene in book two of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress you'll remember Christiana Christian's wife and her boys have gone out on pilgrimage and Mercy her friend is with her and they've entered the house of interpreter and interpreter...

56:06 - 57:36 Read in full sermon