Three Doctrinal Gleanings

In this part of the sermon: Martin explains his method of 'gleaning' doctrinal and practical observations from the passage, akin to a Puritan sermon's 'Observations and Applications.' He then outlines three…

The life of Joseph illustrates God's absolute sovereignty, showing how God works all things for good, even when men intend evil.

God is not giving us a formal statement of the doctrine. He's given us a vivid picture of the doctrine fleshed out in human life and human experience. If you were in the previous hour, almost all of the texts that Pastor Lamar was using to demonstrate the doctrine of God's all-pervasive providence, they were taken out of historical situations in which, those doctrines are beautifully and powerfully illustrated. The absolute sovereignty of God celebrated in a formal statement in Isaiah 40, is amply illustrated in the history of the life of Joseph.

13:31 - 14:12 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin explains his method of 'gleaning' doctrinal and practical observations from the passage, akin to a Puritan sermon's 'Observations and Applications.' He then outlines three…

The story of ravens feeding Elijah in 1 Kings 17 illustrates God's absolute sovereignty, even over the natural dispositions of animals, to care for His servant.

So that he can look back over all of the windings of his life and say, you meant it for evil, God meant it for good. Or we see the absolute sovereignty of God, illustrated again and again in the life of the prophet Elijah. God describes in 1st Kings 17 that when he needs to be fed and he's hiding his servant, God takes ravens, birds of prey, and moves them to go into the king's kitchen and carry food and drop it in the hands or in the lap of the prophet. God sovereignly restrains the disposition of that bird, not to eat the food for himself and to carry it to his servant. Or we see the absolut...

14:12 - 15:19 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin explains his method of 'gleaning' doctrinal and practical observations from the passage, akin to a Puritan sermon's 'Observations and Applications.' He then outlines three…

The account of Jonah and the great fish illustrates God's absolute sovereignty, as He prepares the fish, makes it hungry, and gives it indigestion at the precise times needed for His purposes.

So that he can look back over all of the windings of his life and say, you meant it for evil, God meant it for good. Or we see the absolute sovereignty of God, illustrated again and again in the life of the prophet Elijah. God describes in 1st Kings 17 that when he needs to be fed and he's hiding his servant, God takes ravens, birds of prey, and moves them to go into the king's kitchen and carry food and drop it in the hands or in the lap of the prophet. God sovereignly restrains the disposition of that bird, not to eat the food for himself and to carry it to his servant. Or we see the absolut...

14:12 - 15:19 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin explains his method of 'gleaning' doctrinal and practical observations from the passage, akin to a Puritan sermon's 'Observations and Applications.' He then outlines three…

The Sadducees' attempt to trap Jesus with a hypothetical scenario about a woman married to seven brothers illustrates how they misunderstood Scripture regarding the resurrection and marriage in heaven.

I haven't forgotten where we're going. Just hang in there with me. The Lord Jesus is in that part of this ministry just before his crucifixion, when the opposition of the religious leaders reaches its zenith, and one group after another is seeking to trap him. And in such a setting, we read in Matthew chapter 22, verse 23, On that day there came to him Sadducees, they that say there is no resurrection, one of the tenets of the faith of the Sadducees, or the unbelief or non-faith, no bodily resurrection.

16:11 - 16:51 Read in full sermon

Driving home: He is saying that for Him, Jehovah of hosts, is Jesus manifested in the flesh.

Peter's memory of Jesus staggering in Gethsemane, sweating blood, and enduring intense agony illustrates the human suffering of Christ, contrasting with His divine nature that Peter later affirmed.

Transferring to Jesus, the same Jesus whom he saw sleeping on a pillow in the middle of a storm. So bone weary that he's fast asleep in the middle of a storm and he has to be shaken to wake him up. The same Jesus whom Peter saw in the Garden of Gethsemane staggering like a drunken man. Under the weight of the world's sin that begins to press in upon him in dimensions of substitutionary sin bearing that we cannot conceive and he falls upon the ground and he prays with intensity and rises and falls and visits them and goes back.

31:49 - 32:31 Read in full sermon

Driving home: He is saying that for Him, Jehovah of hosts, is Jesus manifested in the flesh.

Peter's experience of the resurrected Jesus appearing in a locked room and later ascending into heaven illustrates the reality of Christ's resurrection and ascension, solidifying Peter's conviction of His deity.

Bless God he saw him when he said go tell his disciples and Peter. And he came and Peter was part of that group huddling together with doors locked for fear of the Jews and suddenly there appears in their midst this very same Jesus.

32:54 - 33:11 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The doctrine of the Jehovah's Witnesses is nothing but blasphemy.

Thomas's confession, 'My Lord and my God,' and Jesus' acceptance of it, illustrates Jesus' deity and His encouragement of worship, refuting the idea that He was a lesser god.

Well according to Matthew 16 it was Jesus himself who confirms Peter's confession you are the Christ the son of the living God and we come back to one of the old dictums if Jesus then is not God he is not good because he encouraged Peter to be an idolater. He encouraged Thomas to be an idolater when Thomas fell at his feet and said my Lord and my God ha-kuryos mu-kai ha-feos mu my God my Lord what did Jesus say? Oh Thomas I appreciate your enthusiasm but to call me Lord and God as a Jew knowing the significance of those words Thomas don't you know there is but one God Jehovah and I'm the leade...

36:38 - 37:43 Read in full sermon

The point: Reflect on whether unconverted people interacting with you would ever get the idea that you are living in hope, with a dominant perspective on the future return of Christ, not worldly aspirations.

Stories of a suffering wife with an unconverted husband and a slave with an unreasonable master illustrate how hope 'leaks out' in the daily lives of believers, becoming evident to unbelievers.

unto a living hope the very end of our divine beginning is unto this hope then when he gives his first imperative in chapter 1 what is it verse 13 wherefore girding up the loins of your mind be sober and set your hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ you see this matter of hope was not something that came near and suddenly got discovered when they're on the deathbed and they know that this world is no longer going to be their oyster that's where hope for many American Christians just begins to come in to the horizon and the crosshairs of h...

45:08 - 46:37 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin identifies the third gleaning as the reasonableness of the Christian faith, based on the call to give an 'apologia' (defense) and 'logos' (rational account) for one's hope…

Paul's 'apologia' in Acts 22, a well-ordered, factual account of God's dealing with him, illustrates that Christian faith is not irrational but can be rationally defended.

look briefly at an excerpt of someone. I'm giving his apologia, his apology, his defense. In Acts chapter 22 and verse 1, we find the Apostle Paul, brethren and fathers, hear, and here's our word, hear the defense, hear the apology which I now make unto you. And when they heard that he spoke unto them in the Hebrew language, they were the more quiet. And he said, And then he said, Then we read the account of Paul's apology. And what is it? In great measure, it is a well-ordered, clearly structured, factual account of how God dealt with him in sovereign grace and mercy to reveal himself in Jesu...

52:14 - 53:17 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin identifies the third gleaning as the reasonableness of the Christian faith, based on the call to give an 'apologia' (defense) and 'logos' (rational account) for one's hope…

Paul's defense of his apostolic rights in 1 Corinthians 9, using closely reasoned questions, illustrates how an 'apologia' is a structured argument with a specific end in view.

In whose presence he is seeking to bear witness. He does the same in 1 Corinthians 9, in verse 3, in a section dealing with the subject of Christian liberty. And Paul is going to use himself as an example of someone who's willing to forego lawful liberties for higher ends. And in verse 3, he says, My defense, my apologia, my defense to them that examine me is this. And then you read his defense.

53:47 - 54:17 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin identifies the third gleaning as the reasonableness of the Christian faith, based on the call to give an 'apologia' (defense) and 'logos' (rational account) for one's hope…

Paul's defense before King Agrippa in Acts 26, described as a powerful, closely reasoned argument, further illustrates the rational and sober nature of Christian apologetics.

Argument, with a specific end in view. And he's seeking to carry the Corinthians to that end in his apology. Similarly, for the verb form of this word apology, apologia, oh my, turn to Acts 26, verses 1 and 2. This is very interesting, because of what happens at the end of this making of an apology.

54:47 - 55:12 Read in full sermon