How Ye Ought to Walk

In this part of the sermon: Martin reviews the main themes of the first three chapters of 1 Thessalonians, then introduces chapter 4 as a transition to a series of exhortations, noting Paul's extended use of…

Martin notes that Paul's 'finally' in 1 Thessalonians 4 extends for a significant portion of the letter, providing 'apostolic precedent' for preachers who say 'in conclusion' but continue for a long time.

Furthermore, brethren, or for the rest, then we can expect a transition of thought whenever we find the apostle using this phrase, finally, then or furthermore, it's used in second Corinthians 13, 11 in the Ephesians 6, 10 and Philippians 4, 8. And in each case, you find the apostle, as it were, rounding out what he has said and then bringing a cluster. Now, in second Corinthians 13, it only lasts for a few verses in Philippians 4, it only lasts for a few verses, but here the apostles finally or in conclusion goes on for quite a time. So the next time a preacher says an in conclusion and 20 mi...

2:36 - 3:56 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not engage in fleshly activity for holy ends if not rooted in prayer and longing.

A man who prays for something but then forgets about it and has no longing for it, really didn't want it when he prayed, indicating defective prayer.

A man who can pray for something, and then when he's done with his praying, can forget about it, and have no carryover into his life of longing for it. He really didn't want it when he prayed for it.

7:10 - 7:22 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not engage in fleshly activity for holy ends if not rooted in prayer and longing.

If one prays for a loved one's salvation but never thinks of it in free moments, the prayer is a 'perfunctory kind of religious exercise' and not true prayer.

If you can pray for the salvation of a loved one, and then after you've prayed, just forget about it, so that when your hands are in the sink, or you're driving to work, or sitting on the bus, or you're there at the machine in the shop, and your mind never turns in its free moments, to think about that loved one, so that you can say, as Paul does in other places, I have you in my heart, as he says in Philippians, then your prayer was really just a perfunctory kind of religious exercise. It really wasn't true prayer. For true prayer will always be linked to desire. Now, if a man says, oh yes, I...

7:25 - 8:05 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not engage in fleshly activity for holy ends if not rooted in prayer and longing.

A man putting forth effort for a holy end without praying for it or longing for it is 'guilty of fleshly activity upon which the curse of God rests'.

So Paul says, I not only prayed that you might be perfected in the faith, I not only longed that you might be established in holiness, he said, now I'm going to write you and tell you how you go about it. And so you have prayer, desire, and effort joined together, in this inseparable way. Conversely, the man who says, oh yes, I'm really putting forth effort for this holy end, if he's not found praying for it, and his heart is not found bound up with longing for it, then he's guilty of fleshly activity upon which the curse of God rests. For God says, curse be he that trusteth in man, and maketh...

8:22 - 9:15 Read in full sermon

The point: If God has entrusted you with parenthood, pray for blinders to everything else but the discharge of that responsibility, pouring into your children spiritually and in total life development.

Martin laments seeing young adults 'warped and twisted' and unable to cope with parenthood because their own parents were 'too busy' making money for material possessions instead of investing in their children's development.

And then they wear the wrong thin coming to my study. Warped and twisted. Now faced with the responsibilities of motherhood and fatherhood themselves, and unable to cope with it, because their own parents were too busy. Too busy.

13:49 - 14:05 Read in full sermon

The point: Teach your children by example and precept what goes into a happy marriage, as happy marriages don't just happen.

Calling the self-delusion of desiring a happy marriage for children without teaching them how to achieve it a 'spiritual LSD trip' to highlight its unreality.

May God grant that we see the principle here and its very clear application to us. The Apostle Paul would not be found guilty of this self-delusion, this kind of spiritual LSD trip that says, oh, how long did my children have a happy marriage? What are you doing to secure it? There's a mother and a father to teach them by example and precept.

15:24 - 15:52 Read in full sermon

The point: Anything less than full-hearted endeavor to walk in the light of these instructions is high-handed anarchy and rebellion.

Martin distinguishes three uses of 'ought': desirability (e.g., 'you ought to lose some weight'), possibility (e.g., 'I ought to be home by 7:30'), and obligation (e.g., 'I ought to pay my bills').

and I'm confident now we'll only get started what are the key words in this directive for Christian life and conduct and one thing that verse by verse exposition of the scriptures will do to any man who comes at it dead in earnest it'll convince him more and more of the verbal inspiration of the holy scriptures how that every word is pregnant with meaning and rich in its implications for life and for doctrine will you notice the key words now we've looked how the directives will come assuming spiritual life as a beseeching and exhortation in the authority of Christ now what words are the key w...

27:08 - 28:37 Read in full sermon

The point: Anything less than full-hearted endeavor to walk in the light of these instructions is high-handed anarchy and rebellion.

Asking if it's 'legalistic' for a bird to fly or a fish to swim, Martin argues that obeying God is not 'cramping' but finding true humanity, just as creatures act according to their nature.

to run myself I ought to obey him because that's what creatures were made to do and a true child of God revels in him and then the second aspect of his obligation of course is that he's not only not only does he have this right of creation but the right of redemption he bought me at such infinite price for what purpose we read about it in Peter unto obedience and what is obedience but the discharge of what I ought to do now , there is in our day in evangelical circles this terrible heretical idea that the sense of obligation is inconsistent with love they're saying if you tell Christians you o...

31:33 - 33:02 Read in full sermon

The point: Anything less than full-hearted endeavor to walk in the light of these instructions is high-handed anarchy and rebellion.

Martin quotes Matthew Henry's commentary on 'walk' to emphasize that the gospel teaches how to live, not just what to believe, and that 'to talk without living will never bring us to heaven'.

walk and to please God and the best manuscripts have the added little phrase even as ye do walk twice then in verse 1 he uses the word walk this section is concerned with the believers walk walk walk that is the framing of the entire life in its attitudes and actions and this word walk of course is used again again in scripture walk worthily of the Lord if we walk in the light walk in newness of life walk in the spirit I quote from Matthew Henry as he comments on this phrase the design of the gospel is to teach men not only what they should believe but also how they ought to walk not so much t...

34:30 - 35:59 Read in full sermon

The point: Beware of any teaching that claims one chapter is the 'main thrust' or 'secret' to the Christian life, as it indicates imbalance.

Martin compares a single chapter being presented as the 'whole' of Christian teaching to a wife giving only an appetizer and calling it the meal, illustrating the inadequacy of an imbalanced approach to Scripture.

and I could use other things we can say well that's their chapter well that's their chapter you know see something is defective if the Trinity Church ever became known because of its teaching preaching ministry to be a church that had one chapter may God have mercy on us may God have mercy on us this is why I stick and discipline myself to stick to verse by verse chapter by chapter book by book exposition because it's all and if anybody says well if you just get my one chapter there you've got it you tell them I'm sorry God gave me more chapters in my Bible than that now if you can help me und...

40:25 - 41:55 Read in full sermon

The point: Be delivered from discouragement by recognizing that God knows our frame and that spiritual growth and understanding of directives take time.

Martin shares a personal anecdote of being discouraged when he realized he had forgotten a memorized passage that applied to a practical area of his life, highlighting the challenge of retaining all biblical directives.

find that one chapter if I just find it well just forget it you're not going to find that one chapter you're not going to find it Paul says you received of us how you ought to walk lots of chapters and here comes some more chapters and if you're going to please God you've got to face all of them bit by bit as you're able to absorb them bit by bit as you're able to work them out but if you're going to please God you're going to be a 66 I don't know how many chapters I've got to say one time I saw them totaled up I forgot how many chapters in the New Testament but we can't even exclude the old b...

41:55 - 43:25 Read in full sermon

The point: Establish a reasonable working plan for continuous, systematic exposure to the entirety of Scripture in personal Bible study and church instruction.

Martin uses the analogy of a parent giving age-appropriate directives to children (e.g., for 7-year-olds, not teenagers) to illustrate that God knows our frame and gives instructions commensurate with our ability to absorb and apply them.

golden he said now I'm just going to give you more instructions that you might grow never forget dear believers that God remembers our frame that we are but dust and part of that dusty frame is a rusty mental apparatus right and just from the standpoint of retaining all the directions we can't retain all of them at once now God knows that doesn't he doesn't he well that gives me comfort but now when he speaks about a given area and truth then comes and sheds light upon that pathway and then we balk then God will discipline us just as a parent I do not give to my children the directives that wi...

43:41 - 45:10 Read in full sermon