Longing that Leads to Growth: Prerequisites

Driving home: This book, utterly unique, is that it is the only Spirit-inspired revelation of the mind and will of God to mankind.

Martin uses the examples of wineskins and unshrunken cloth from Mark 2 to illustrate how some biblical references are culturally specific and require expository explanation to be understood by modern audiences.

And they spoke in the thought patterns, the figures of speech, and all of the various tools that men use when communicating their thoughts one toward another. And that means there will be, as we have been instructed in great detail, in recent weeks, figures of speech, there will be figures, there will be things in the scriptures deeply embedded in the circle of the thought and the experience of the biblical writers. There will be similes, certain things will be like this, or metaphors, certain things will be said to be this or to be that. There will be references to historical events and some ...

3:21 - 4:44 Read in full sermon

Driving home: This book, utterly unique, is that it is the only Spirit-inspired revelation of the mind and will of God to mankind.

Martin uses Jesus' teaching about fathers giving good gifts to their children to illustrate a supra-cultural truth that transcends specific times and cultures, contrasting it with the culturally specific examples.

But thankfully, there are other portions of the Word of God where the biblical writers, under the guidance of the Spirit, make reference to things that are supra-cultural and supra-temporal. They are realities not bound by any given culture at any given time, in any given set of circumstances. For example, when Jesus is displaying the largeness of the Father's heart to His children, He says this, If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask? Well, you don't need to be embedded in Palestinian culture ...

5:23 - 6:21 Read in full sermon

The point: If you have not in the heart repudiated sin as your master, and sin in terms of specific sins, you've never repented. And except you repent, you'll perish.

Martin explains the word 'putting away' as literally meaning to take off and shed a garment, using the example of those who laid their garments at Saul's feet during Stephen's stoning, then applying it metaphorically to putting off moral evils.

The word can literally mean, to take off and shed a garment. It's used that way in Acts 7.58, where it speaks of those who took off their garments and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul. That's in the incident of Stephen's stoning and martyrdom.

19:56 - 20:17 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Peter says two things are necessary. If you're going to grow, there must not only be wholesome food, but a healthy digestive system.

Martin uses the analogy of a baby needing both wholesome food and a healthy digestive system to grow, applying it to spiritual growth, where the 'putting away' of sins is like having a healthy digestive system for spiritual milk.

Peter says two things are necessary. If you're going to grow, there must not only be wholesome food, but a healthy digestive system. You can put all the wholesome food. You want to with a little babe who has a sick digestive system, and the child will not grow.

27:16 - 27:36 Read in full sermon

The point: There must be a putting away, a way of all malice in all of its manifestations. However, hidden from the eyes of men, when known to us as it is known to God, that malice is to be put away.

Martin uses the example of accidentally elbowing someone versus intentionally wanting to hit them to distinguish between an accidental injury and the malicious disposition of ill will.

Now the word used for wickedness is a word that if you wanted to use, a term that would describe in the broadest way, anything that was the opposite of good and virtuous, this is the word you could use. However, most frequently in the New Testament, when it is used in a list of sins, it is not speaking of wickedness in the broadest, most general sense. It's speaking of wickedness in a more specific and limited sense. It is the wickedness manifested in what we would call a malicious, malicious spirit, ill will, malice, the disposition of moral baseness that is eager to injure another. You see, ...

28:55 - 30:04 Read in full sermon

The point: There is nothing another person can ever do to you. That justifies for one millisecond, the entertainment of a disposition, of malice, never, never.

Martin describes malice as a 'horrible moth-eaten garment' that believers once wore day and night, emphasizing how easy it is to slip back into entertaining a malicious spirit even after conversion.

So it equals ivory soap in its purity, but, putting away all malice, all malice, whenever a threat of it, attempts as it were to put itself back upon us as our native dress. When once for some of us, perhaps malice was a garment. We wore day and night grudges against all kinds of people for all kinds of reasons. And when God saved you, the basic power, of that horrible moth-eaten garment was broken and you put it off.

32:00 - 32:40 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin details the second category of sins: 'guile' (deceit, cunning, craftiness), 'hypocrisies' (play-acting, hiding true identity), and 'envies' (displeasure at another's…

Martin uses the analogy of baiting a hook with a minnow to catch a fish to explain 'guile' as deliberate deceit and cunning, promising a 'free meal' but intending a 'hook in a frying pan'.

The term was the one originally used when you wanted to describe what you did in baiting your hook for a fish. You beguiled him. Now you kids, if you go fishing with dad, most moms don't like to fish, some do, but suppose you're going fishing with mom and dad, and you put a minnow on your hook. Put the hook through the minnow's lips, or through by behind its dorsal fin, and the minnow's swimming around there in the water.

33:15 - 33:43 Read in full sermon

The point: Putting away, therefore, not only all malice... but all guile, all deceit, all cunning craftiness, the deceitfulness that harms others through trickery and falsehood. He says, put it all away, every single bit of it.

Martin explains 'hypocrisy' as play-acting, where actors put on masks to hide their true identity and deliberately assume another, applying it to concealing real motives and feelings.

It means to hide your true identity from another. That's what the actors used to do in the plays of that day. They put on the mask. To do what?

35:31 - 35:43 Read in full sermon

The point: Putting away all hypocrisies, all of the ways and all of the shenanigans that we can indulge in, in order to take the role of a hypocrite.

Martin describes a hypocrite as someone who meets you with a face different from their heart, communicating words different from true feelings, greeting with a smile while affections have died.

The one who conceals his real motives. A man who meets you with a face that is different from the state of his heart. Who communicates with words that are different from his true feelings. Who greets you with the smile and with the language of a brother beloved.

35:55 - 36:15 Read in full sermon

The point: Putting away all hypocrisies, all of the ways and all of the shenanigans that we can indulge in, in order to take the role of a hypocrite.

Martin recounts Judas's 'slobbering' kiss of Jesus from Mark 14 to vividly illustrate the sickening nature of hypocritical love, contrasting it with genuine affection.

Now, Peter says you can lapse from that. And the moment you find yourself drifting back, into hypocritical love, into Judas-like love. And how sickening it was in the earlier morning hours to read again, as I've told some of you, I try to do frequently on a Lord's day, to read the account of our Lord's death and resurrection, to bring myself afresh to the realization, why am I gathering with a group of people on the first day of the week? Because Jesus died and rose again!

37:41 - 38:17 Read in full sermon

The point: May God help us to feel sick in our own hypocrisy. And we would deliberately do with our bodies and say with our lips, that which is not the disposition of our hearts.

Martin uses the example of the spies sent to Jesus in Luke 20, who 'feigned themselves to be righteous' to catch his words, to illustrate calculated hypocrisy.

And we would deliberately do with our bodies and say with our lips, that which is not the disposition of our hearts. Peter says, put it all away! That's what the leaders were doing in Luke chapter 20, verses 20 to 23. Listen to how Luke describes it.

39:00 - 39:20 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin details the second category of sins: 'guile' (deceit, cunning, craftiness), 'hypocrisies' (play-acting, hiding true identity), and 'envies' (displeasure at another's…

Martin provides a definition of envy as the feeling of displeasure produced by witnessing or hearing of another's benefits or prosperity, often coupled with a sense of undeservedness.

What is envy? Well, surely it's something akin to what I'm going to try to describe, and here I'm indebted to several of the commentators who helped me to crystallize my own thinking. Envy is the feeling of displeasure produced by witnessing or hearing of the benefits received, or the blessings received by another. Envy is the feeling of displeasure produced by witnessing or hearing of the advantage or prosperity of another.

41:32 - 42:07 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin details the second category of sins: 'guile' (deceit, cunning, craftiness), 'hypocrisies' (play-acting, hiding true identity), and 'envies' (displeasure at another's…

Martin explains that the religious leaders' envy of Jesus stemmed from His popularity and the devotion of the masses, which they felt belonged to them, leading them to hand Him over to Pilate.

They were the fat cats in Jerusalem. Possessions? No, no. What he had was the love and the devotion of the masses that they thought belonged to them.

43:16 - 43:28 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin details the second category of sins: 'guile' (deceit, cunning, craftiness), 'hypocrisies' (play-acting, hiding true identity), and 'envies' (displeasure at another's…

Martin uses Paul's statement in Philippians 1:15 about some preaching Christ from envy of Paul to illustrate how even ministry can be motivated by this sin.

Envy of whom? Envy of Paul. In the providence of God, he had been given a chief place in the advancement of the gospel. And their envy burned in their breast.

45:01 - 45:13 Read in full sermon

The point: Putting away all evil speakings. This word is found only one other place in the New Testament, 2 Corinthians 12, 20. But its verbal form is found two more times in this epistle, and there the meaning becomes very clear.

Martin describes 'evil speakings' as a vice that deliberately assaults another's character, usually taking place behind the victim's back, doing with words what one wouldn't do to their face.

Having a good conscience, that wherein you are spoken against, they may be put to shame, who revile your good manner of life in Christ. Speaking against is synonymous with reviling, abusive, negative, denigrating, running down disparaging speech. As one has described it, it is a vice that deliberately assaults the character of another and usually takes place behind the victim's back. It's doing with words what you'd never do to a person's face.

47:11 - 47:51 Read in full sermon

The point: Putting away all evil speakings. This word is found only one other place in the New Testament, 2 Corinthians 12, 20. But its verbal form is found two more times in this epistle, and there the meaning becomes very clear.

Martin quotes a commentator who describes evil speaking as operating by 'denying or darkening a neighbor's virtues' or 'imputing to him evil designs as he does good,' even if the good cannot be denied.

Assault them with your fists or even assault them with your words. But it's assaulting them with words generally behind their back. One commentator has very helpfully written, it operates either by denying or darkening a neighbor's virtues. Never highlights them.

47:51 - 48:10 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The mouth becomes as it were the vent through which the smoke and flames of the infernal fire of malice and envy which rages in the furnace within, makes polluting and withering all around.

Martin quotes MacDonald on how evil speaking can act under the guise of a 'pious prayer request,' where negative information is shared under the pretense of seeking prayer.

MacDonald notes that it can even act under the guise of a pious prayer request. Quote, I mention this only for your prayer fellowship, but did you know that so and so, I only mention this so you can share the burden with me, did you know that? And this one author has said, neither righteousness nor truth demand what follows in the giving of the so-called prayer request. Neither righteousness, justice, nor truth demand it.

48:42 - 49:09 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The mouth becomes as it were the vent through which the smoke and flames of the infernal fire of malice and envy which rages in the furnace within, makes polluting and withering all around.

Martin quotes John Brown, the Scottish commentator, who broadly defines 'evil speakings' to include calumny, slander, whisperings, back-bitings, sly insinuations, and any statement lowering another's reputation without justice or truth.

It is the use of words to tear down, to batter the character, the name, the reputation of another. And Peter says, if you are to have this longing for the milk that will enable you to grow, you must put aside, put away, shed as a vile garment, all evil speakings. John Brown, the godly Scottish commentator writes, calumnious or vicious slander is the worst form of this evil, but all whisperings and back-bitings, all sly insinuations, hinting at faults and hesitating dislike, every species of thought, every statement having for its object the lowering the reputation of another, which justice doe...

49:09 - 50:31 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The mouth becomes as it were the vent through which the smoke and flames of the infernal fire of malice and envy which rages in the furnace within, makes polluting and withering all around.

John Brown's graphic imagery, quoted by Martin, describes the mouth as a 'vent through which the smoke and flames of the infernal fire of malice and envy... makes polluting and withering all around,' illustrating the destructive power of evil speech.

It is the use of words to tear down, to batter the character, the name, the reputation of another. And Peter says, if you are to have this longing for the milk that will enable you to grow, you must put aside, put away, shed as a vile garment, all evil speakings. John Brown, the godly Scottish commentator writes, calumnious or vicious slander is the worst form of this evil, but all whisperings and back-bitings, all sly insinuations, hinting at faults and hesitating dislike, every species of thought, every statement having for its object the lowering the reputation of another, which justice doe...

49:09 - 50:31 Read in full sermon