Principles to Enforce This Teaching

The point: Seek to keep the holy veil in all our relationships as men and women within the confines of the church of Christ.

David's lust for Bathsheba and his subsequent actions against Uriah are presented as a classic example of a man who 'overreached and wronged his brother in this matter,' highlighting the grievous nature of sexual sin against others.

Do Christians ever overreach and wrong their brother in this matter? Yes, they do. The Bible, and the history of the church, and the history of many individual churches records the sad, sad story. David is a classic example of a man who overreached and wronged his brother in this matter.

7:29 - 7:48 Read in full sermon

The point: Seek to keep the holy veil in all our relationships as men and women within the confines of the church of Christ.

The man guilty of incest in 1 Corinthians 5 is used as another biblical example of transgressing proper relationships, underscoring that such sins can occur even within the church.

He lusted after Uriah's wife, that noble soldier. And though David's sin was a terrible sin against God, and a terrible sin against Bathsheba, I never read the account but what I'm struck with, what a terrible, grievous sin he committed against noble Uriah. 1 Corinthians chapter 5 gives us the record of a man at the church at Corinth who overreached the boundaries of the proper relationship, even in the close family ties, and was guilty of incest. And living in the day in which we live, that is increasingly becoming just as pagan as the day in which these Thessalonians lived, when immorality w...

7:48 - 8:32 Read in full sermon

The point: Husbands, in all your dealings with other women in the church, be conscious of the holy veil and do not intrude upon your brother's rights.

Joking banter is likened to 'moths upon wool' that 'eats away at that holy veil' between men and women in the church, illustrating how seemingly small compromises can erode boundaries of purity.

as men and women within the confines of the church of Christ. Let's not ever be guilty of that kind of joking banter that begins to act like moths upon wool, and eats away at that holy veil. May God grant, that all of us who are husbands, and all of our dealings with the other women in the church, there will be that consciousness that though in Christ there is neither male nor female, we are one in Him, and we love each other in the Lord, in this area there is a holy veil, and we dare not pass through that veil and intrude upon the rights of our brother. You women, in your relationship to all ...

9:14 - 9:59 Read in full sermon

The point: Don't put yourself in any circumstance, no matter how good the motive, in which you lay the groundwork for an opportunity to overreach and transgress.

Martin shares his personal practice of avoiding afternoon calls to women's homes when no one else is present, explaining it's not due to questioning anyone's morals but because he doesn't trust his own flesh, illustrating the principle of avoiding tempting circumstances.

Don't put yourself in any circumstance, no matter how good the mode it may be, in which you lay the groundwork, in which you set the stage for an opportunity to overreach and transgress in this matter, and wrong the brother. Some of you wonder why I don't do much afternoon calling. It's for this very reason. I've never had any reason to question the morals of any of the women of the church.

11:16 - 11:44 Read in full sermon

The point: Young people, when the fires of passion begin to rage, remember that to play with God's standard is to make yourself a candidate for the flames of hell.

Martin recounts a pastor's story of a church member who engaged in adultery for seventeen years without immediate divine judgment, illustrating how God's patience does not negate His eventual judgment.

God allowed the young people to sport in their parked cars. God allowed them to immerse themselves in forms of impurity and uncleanness and adulterous relationships and they went on day after day, week after week. I ministered in a church recently where the pastor told me there's been someone, a member in good standing, seventeen years every weekend consorting with another man. No thunderbolts out of heaven, no lightning to strike her dead.

21:40 - 22:14 Read in full sermon

Driving home: You see the whole concept of biblical calling is that work of God in which he seduces our rebel wills opens our eyes and brings us to freely embrace the Lord Jesus.

The common experience of calling children home for supper, which may be unheeded, is contrasted with God's 'calling,' to explain that God's call is more than a mere summons; it's an effectual work.

And the word call in the Bible does not mean to summon. We say I called my kids to come home for supper. It may have been nothing but a summons that was duly unheeded until you went after them with a belt or something else. The call of God is more than a summons.

28:36 - 28:53 Read in full sermon

Driving home: You see the whole concept of biblical calling is that work of God in which he seduces our rebel wills opens our eyes and brings us to freely embrace the Lord Jesus.

The Roman Catholic Church's accusation that justification by faith alone leads to licentiousness is used to highlight the antinomian danger that Paul is addressing by emphasizing the purpose of God's calling to holiness.

That's what some would say. That's the accusation the Roman Catholic Church makes. That's why the Council of Trent condemns the biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone. They say why if we believe that we are saved by grace through faith alone that God accepts us on the basis of the righteousness of Christ Jesus without the works of the law then we would live like the devil.

30:10 - 30:32 Read in full sermon

The point: If you are not found with the attitude 'Oh God, bend my every thought and every action to that standard,' you are resisting the authority of almighty God.

Esau's despising of his birthright for a bowl of soup is used to illustrate what it means to 'despise' God's instruction: to treat it with indifference or contempt, regarding it lightly.

there's not only the judgment of God to contend with you're contradicting of the call of God but he says in verse 8 you're resisting despising of the authority of God despiseth despiseth not man but God who giveth his Holy Spirit unto you what does the word despise mean well in its biblical setting it means to treat with indifference or contempt persons or things Esau despised his birthright he comes on in from his hunting trip and he's got the pains in his tummy and he says man I'm dying I gotta eat and so little heel snatching

35:21 - 36:06 Read in full sermon

The point: Remember, when you resist and despise the voice of God coming through a conscience enlightened by scripture, it is no less the voice of God than a thunderclap from heaven.

The idea of a thunderclap and a voice from heaven calling out names to warn against sexual sin is used to illustrate the sobering effect God's direct voice would have, emphasizing that the 'still small voice of conscience' enlightened by scripture is no less the voice of God.

to remember that in the whisperings of conscience based upon the light of scripture almighty God was speaking and they ought to be as responsive to that whisper of conscience as though in the moment of temptation the heavens were suddenly rent and thunder clapped above them and that was the standard of God that would shape you up good and proper wouldn't it can you imagine a couple of young people beginning to toy with their passions and all of a sudden in the middle of this there's a thunder clap and a voice speaks out of heaven and calls them by name and says John and Jim you're called to ho...

39:49 - 40:33 Read in full sermon

The point: Remember, when you resist and despise the voice of God coming through a conscience enlightened by scripture, it is no less the voice of God than a thunderclap from heaven.

Disregarding the standard of holiness while indwelt by the Holy Spirit is likened to 'slapping the hand that feeds you' or 'spitting in the face of the one that would bring words of consolation,' illustrating the insult to the Holy Spirit.

his Holy Spirit unto you this adds insult to injury to use our terms for in the original again it's emphatic he's saying God gave his Spirit his Holy Spirit unto you he has not only called me I say it reverently he's taken up his very abode in me to make me holy and when I disregard the standard of holiness I'm grieving and quenching the indwelling Spirit who's been given to make me holy what an insult it's like slapping the hand that feeds you spitting in the face of the one that would bring words of consolation and when Paul deals with this problem at the church at Corinth

42:02 - 42:46 Read in full sermon