Sufferings of Christ and His People, #1

Driving home: Across the whole spectrum of all the possible kinds of suffering, from the snubbing and frown of one's peers, to the emotional distance, and opposition of one's own blood relatives, to the bypassing of a deserved promoti…

Martin describes the wide range of suffering Christians experience, from social snubbing and family opposition to slander, denied promotions, and ultimately, martyrdom, to show its pervasive nature.

You'd say, look, you're missing it in something that is the very heart of true Christian experience. Well, likewise, I'm asserting that as surely as no authentic Christian experience would exclude repentance, and faith, so likewise, the truly penitent and believing child of God is to be brought into the crucible of suffering for the sake of the Christ upon whom he has believed. Across the whole spectrum of all the possible kinds of suffering, from the snubbing and frown of one's peers, to the emotional distance, and opposition of one's own blood relatives, to the bypassing of a deserved promot...

5:14 - 6:32 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not be indifferent to apostolic instruction on suffering, as no Christian will forever be a stranger to it.

Using the Greek prefix 'soon' (together), Martin illustrates that glory with Christ is inseparable from suffering with Him, like two sides of the same coin.

Romans 8 and verse 17, if that were the only text, would bear the weight of that assertion. Having spoken of the reality of our sonship, attested by the Holy Spirit, Paul goes on to say in Romans 8, 17, and if we are children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if so be, that we suffer with him, that we may be glorified together with him. And you have two Greek words, each one with the prefix soon, which means together. And you have, on the one hand, you have together, together with Christ in his suffering, together with Christ in his glory, and no one comes to the together...

6:49 - 8:16 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He highlights the crucial 'because' in verse 18, establishing a clear logical and thematic link between believers' suffering and Christ's, and frames verses 19-21 as a…

Martin asks the audience to imagine being in an early church assembly, hearing the epistle read, and the pause before 'Because Christ also suffered,' to emphasize the impact of Peter's words.

And I would like you to imagine that you are sitting there, in an assembly of God's people, somewhere there in one of those five Roman provinces, and you have heard someone appointed by the leadership to read the epistle when it first came. And you've heard, you've heard the words of verses 13 through 17, culminating in the words, It is better if the will of God should so will to suffer for doing well than for evil-doing. And then there's a pause. And the one who's reading is letting some of that sink in.

14:24 - 15:05 Read in full sermon

The point: When you suffer, remember that Christ also suffered, and bring His sufferings into your contemplation of your own.

Archbishop Leighton's quote, 'God had one Son without sin. He has none without suffering,' is used to powerfully summarize the universal experience of suffering for God's children.

And again, it's a matter of the manuscripts, and I am persuaded, and I'll not give the reasons, that what is in the New King James, the old American standard, many of the current renditions of Scripture, that the word suffering is the proper word. And by the use of this word, Peter brings their sufferings and Christ's sufferings into the closest conjunction. Therefore, my first heading is, the basic similarities between the sufferings of Christ and the sufferings of His people. Old Archbishop Layton said, God had one Son without sin.

21:36 - 22:19 Read in full sermon

The point: Come to grips and count the cost: if your grasp of Christ is real, you have grasped Him not only for forgiveness but to enter into the fellowship of His suffering.

Martin describes young believers as being in a 'cocoon' of sympathetic parents, peers, pastors, and church members, to highlight the comfort they currently experience before facing inevitable suffering.

Right now, you are wonderfully cocooned in the midst of your sympathetic parents who are pleading with God for your salvation and nothing makes them more happy and more supportive than every indication that their prayers are being answered for your salvation. And then you've got many sympathetic peers. It's a wonderful thing to see groups of you standing around and walk up on you and hear you talking about things that really matter. As I said the other day, something's bigger to you than the latest British styles on the front of Seventeen Magazine or Vogue or Red Book or some other soft core p...

37:17 - 38:23 Read in full sermon

The point: In the secret place with God, think through the issue of suffering and count the cost, taking up your cross and following Christ.

Martin shares a personal anecdote about being 'dropped like I had leprosy' by high school friends after becoming a Christian, to illustrate the social cost of identifying with Christ.

And I don't talk to someone who doesn't know it from being a very popular guy in high school. I know what it was with the exception of four or five guys to be dropped like I had leprosy.

40:53 - 41:04 Read in full sermon

The point: In the secret place with God, think through the issue of suffering and count the cost, taking up your cross and following Christ.

Jesus' parables of the king going to war and the builder constructing a tower are used to illustrate the importance of counting the cost of discipleship, especially regarding suffering.

It's inevitable in one way or another, at one time or another, to one degree or another, if you belong to Christ. Now, should you go on out and make a nuisance of yourself and try to get everybody mad at you to see if you'll stand the test? No, I'm just asking you in the secret place where you have dealings with God, you think this issue through and in the language of Jesus, you count the cost. You count the cost lest you be like the king that goes out to war with an insufficient army or the builder that begins to build with insufficient capital and materials and all laugh at his half built ho...

41:58 - 43:08 Read in full sermon

The point: Follow Christ in suffering with the confidence that beyond the suffering, there is glory, and that the glory is certain and worth the suffering.

The example of Moses refusing to be called Pharaoh's son and choosing suffering for the 'recompense of the reward' is used to show that looking to future glory is biblical, not mercenary.

And I don't have time. I'd love to just go into the details of it. Remember what is recorded in Hebrews 11 about Moses when he was come to years. He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.

43:45 - 43:56 Read in full sermon