In Our Lord Jesus Christ

Driving home: A Christian is one into whose life God has worked many wonderful virtues by the grace and power of his spirit. And yet it would seem in the thinking of the Apostle Paul that the three crown virtues amongst all of those w…

Faith, love, and hope are described as the 'three crown jewels in the diadem of Christian virtue,' emphasizing their preeminence among all virtues God works in believers.

In our study of this paragraph that extends from verse 2 or begins at verse 2 and goes down through to verse 10, we have in a very real sense what we could call Paul's prayer of thanks to God for what he discerned at the work of God in the Christians there at Thessalonica. And at the very top of the list of things for which he gives thanks to God, in verse 3 we have what I have called the three crown jewels in the diadem of Christian virtue. A Christian is one into whose life God has worked many wonderful virtues by the grace and power of his spirit. And yet it would seem in the thinking of th...

0:05 - 1:33 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: This section introduces the first phrase, explaining that 'in our Lord Jesus Christ' refers to both the object and the cause of faith, love, and hope. Martin clarifies the…

Paul's phrases are contrasted with 'filler' in a newspaper article, highlighting that every word Paul writes is vital and purposeful, not just to fill space.

And so these little phrases are by no means, just sort of thrown in there for the sake of filler. Those who work in the newspaper business, they have to have a lot of filler. You finish, you finish an article and you have just maybe six lines left and you got to put something in so you don't have a blank space. Well, you see, Paul didn't have that problem.

3:24 - 3:43 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: This section introduces the first phrase, explaining that 'in our Lord Jesus Christ' refers to both the object and the cause of faith, love, and hope. Martin clarifies the…

Martin uses an example of being thankful for a congregation's 'love, patience, and grace which it has shown to me and my wife' to illustrate how a single modifying phrase can apply to multiple preceding items, supporting his interpretation of 'of the Lord Jesus'.

It really should be of the Lord Jesus. And it's so structured, that it could well refer to the entire passage. Let me illustrate. I might say to you, I am thankful to the congregation for the love, the patience and grace which it has shown to me and my wife.

5:02 - 5:21 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Wherever the Apostle Paul has opportunity to trace the virtues found in a Christian back to their ultimate source, he delights to trace them back to the Lord Jesus as the ultimate source, the fountainhead from which all …

Martin quotes a popular song to critique its shallow theology, arguing it promotes generic faith, hope, and love without specifying their necessary object, which is Christ.

There's a little song that is popular, at least in some circles, I've heard it sung. Have faith, hope, and charity. That's the way to live successfully. How do I know?

7:04 - 7:16 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The emphasis of the Bible is not upon faith, hope, and love as entities in themselves, but the emphasis of the Bible is upon faith, hope, and love in terms of their object.

An anecdote about a preacher speaking to a civic club about generic 'faith in God and hope' illustrates how the world embraces vague religiosity, contrasting it with the Bible's emphasis on Christ as the specific object.

He's religious. This is what our presidents do, and our heads of state. And I even heard a well-known preacher bringing a message to some kind of a civic club, and he talked about faith in God and hope and all the rest. Well, you see, everybody will embrace this and love it and say, isn't that nice?

8:28 - 8:44 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The emphasis of the Bible is not upon faith, hope, and love as entities in themselves, but the emphasis of the Bible is upon faith, hope, and love in terms of their object.

The concept of Alcoholics Anonymous's 'higher being' is used to contrast with Paul's specific preaching of Jesus Christ, emphasizing that Christian faith is not a nebulous trust but a specific trust in the God-man.

How do we know this is true? Well, if you turn back to Acts 17, and find the account of the founding of this church, we read that when Paul came among them, he didn't come with some kind of a psychological emphasis, just saying, well, if you just have faith in something other than yourself, all will be well. You sort of need to trust a higher being. I think that's what Alcoholics Anonymous uses as its term.

9:26 - 9:50 Read in full sermon

The point: Strip away all religious activities and self-effort to see if what remains is work, love, and endurance springing from faith, love, and hope in Christ.

Martin shares his personal experience of spiritual barrenness and declension due to busyness (packing, painting), leading him to seek revival and read a searching book.

Strip away everything in your life, all the activity, all the religious activities, and everything else until there's nothing left but that work that you do out of a living faith in a living Lord, that work which springs out of a true love for the living Christ, and that endurance that is rooted in a steadfast confidence that He is coming again. Now you see, a Christian's got a lot left if you strip away everything but that. So, he realizes, yes, I am laboring because my confidence is in Him, because I love Him, because I know that He is coming, I endure. Because I love Him, I toil. Because I ...

16:13 - 17:26 Read in full sermon

The point: Strip away all religious activities and self-effort to see if what remains is work, love, and endurance springing from faith, love, and hope in Christ.

Martin quotes an unnamed preacher (likely a Puritan) on 'What think ye of Christ?' as the criterion for the soul's state, emphasizing Christ as the substance, source, and object of a believer's life.

Perhaps nothing forms a more certain criterion of the state of the soul than this. We would be willing to test a man's religion both as to its nature and its growth by his reply to this question, What think ye of Christ? Does his blood daily moisten the root of thy profession? Is his righteousness that which exalts thee out of and above thyself and daily gives thee free and near access to God?

17:51 - 18:12 Read in full sermon

The point: Cultivate vital heart attachment to the Lord Jesus, recognizing that this is the source from which all virtues flow, and use the Sabbath for fresh revelations of Christ.

Cutting off vital heart attachment to Christ is likened to drying up the streams from which virtues flow, emphasizing that true spiritual growth comes from the source, not by trying to 'put new water into the streams'.

will burn with a deeper glow and out of that will become a willingness to toil for his kingdom in the confidence that all will be well at his coming but if you cut away vital heart attachment to Christ contemplation of the person and work of Christ you have as it were dried up the streams from which these virtues flow I confess to you this morning that at times those streams are awfully awfully low in my own life and how futile it is to put new water into the streams you can't do it you can't correct the stream by concentrating on the stream we've got to go back to the place from whence all th...

21:12 - 22:41 Read in full sermon

The point: If not savingly joined to Christ, fear God with a holy dread and flee from the wrath to come by coming to His Son.

The Pharisees' actions 'to be seen with men' are contrasted with Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount about doing things 'in secret' for the Father who sees, illustrating the difference between outward show and true sincerity.

remember our Lord in the sermon in the mount said don't be like those Pharisees what they did the Pharisees what they do they do to be seen with men what you do you should do for one reason remember thy Father which seeth in secret thy Father which seeth in secret giving praying fasting our Lord emphasizes three times the concern of the true Christian is the Father seeth that's what concerns me the Father seeth that we preachers do to tell people the state of our souls were necessary we who've been on the way a while need it you get a reputation for being rather spiritual and they do rightly s...

24:11 - 25:39 Read in full sermon

The point: Cultivate the consciousness of God's presence wherever you are and whatever you are doing, finding delight in it.

An anecdote about someone complaining they 'can't get God out of my mind' is used to illustrate that for a true believer, constant God-consciousness is a delight, not a burden, unless one is trying to sin.

Do you find it a delight to cultivate the consciousness of God? Wherever you are, whatever you're doing. I had someone speak to me last week. He said, you know, I just can't get God out of my mind.

28:40 - 28:51 Read in full sermon

The point: Cultivate the consciousness of God's presence wherever you are and whatever you are doing, finding delight in it.

Children doing things to please their parents and wanting to be seen by them is used to illustrate how a true child of God cherishes the thought of God's presence and eye, while a disobedient child tries to hide.

You see, the child who's doing the things that please his father, he's never bothered that his father might be looking out the window. He's kind of proud that his father cares enough to watch it. Daddy, look at this. Mommy, look at that.

29:11 - 29:25 Read in full sermon

The point: Seek to exercise virtues and live as in the sight of God and our Father, allowing this to be a governing principle in your life.

Joseph's refusal to sin against God when tempted by Potiphar's wife is presented as a prime example of living in the constant consciousness of God's sight, even when no human eye is present.

And that becomes one of the governing principles of his life. Like Joseph, when he was being seduced by Potiphar's wife, he said, how can I do this thing and sin against God?

29:43 - 29:52 Read in full sermon

The point: Embrace the freedom that comes from living in the sight of God and the Father, caring only for His approval, not the opinions of others.

The scenario of people quickly tidying up, changing literature, and acting 'sweet and lovey' when a pastor visits is used to illustrate hypocrisy and the danger of performing virtues for human approval rather than God's.

That was the thing that brought delight to the heart of the Apostle Paul, that they had this work of faith, this labor of love and patience of hope, not merely in the sight of the elders of the assembly, so that when one of the pastors was coming to visit, why you got to all the best literature out and put it on top of the table, and you quick-clicked, and you quick-clipped off the television set that had some kind of garbage coming over it, and the wife and husband all of a sudden got all sweet and lovey where they'd just been pouring out some words that had a lot of bile in them. No. I've se...

30:29 - 31:07 Read in full sermon

The point: Embrace the freedom that comes from living in the sight of God and the Father, caring only for His approval, not the opinions of others.

Martin shares a personal anecdote about his wife's concern for others' opinions regarding a decision, and his response, 'I don't care what they think... God knows, you know, hallelujah, nothing else matters,' to illustrate the freedom of living before God alone.

You know, a wonderful release comes when you're seeking to live in the sight of God and the Father. Tell my wife about a certain thing we were deciding to do the other night, just last night, and she said, but honey, so and so thinks this, I don't care what they think. Who cares? Are your motives right in doing it? Yes.

31:42 - 31:59 Read in full sermon

The point: Embrace the freedom that comes from living in the sight of God and the Father, caring only for His approval, not the opinions of others.

The burden of constantly 'playing to the crowd' and trying to impress others is described as 'terrible bondage,' contrasting it with the freedom Christ gives to live for God's approval alone.

That's wonderful freedom. Do you know that freedom? I pity the person who's got to all the time, as it were, be playing to the crowd. Well, I've got to impress this one that I'm this, and I've got to impress this one that I'm not this, and I've got, oh, that's terrible bondage.

32:04 - 32:18 Read in full sermon