(a): Sons of God; (b) Brethren of Christ

The point: Do not allow yourselves to be led into the 'never-never land of false and disappointing expectations by the promise that there is one master key to living the Christian life.' Instead, embrace the whole Bible and foundat…

Martin uses the analogy of a 'master key' to the Christian life to warn against simplistic approaches, arguing that the whole Bible is needed, but foundational principles like understanding our identity in Christ form the 'structural framework'.

What I would call the never-never land of false and disappointing expectations by the promise that there is one master key to living the Christian life. No, as I have demonstrated in my little booklet entitled, Living the Christian Life, you and I need the whole Bible to make us whole men and women in Christ. However, there are some foundational principles, some core issues that form what I like to call the structural framework of the entire edifice of the Bible's teaching on how we are to live the Christian life. And one such structural principle is this. You and I, as believers, must increas...

2:41 - 3:41 Read in full sermon

The point: Don't allow what you are learning and embracing of a deeper understanding of your adoption to dilute, to distort, or to replace the other realities of your relationship to God in Jesus Christ.

Martin quotes Sinclair Ferguson to explain the attendant realities of adoption in Roman law: radical severance from the old family, legal establishment of new ties, and new mutual commitments, illustrating the depth of God's adoption.

might be brought into a family and endowed with the status and privileges of a son, one who was not by nature that son, or the kindred of the father who adopts him. So, in the light of Scripture, when God uses this word, we must regard adoption as an act of transfer from an alien family into the family of God. And then we considered the meaning of adoption in the attendant realities of adoption within Roman law. And here I was indebted to Sinclair Ferguson, the old family, who said that the family ties are radically and permanently severed.

8:59 - 9:43 Read in full sermon

The point: Speak truth to yourself rather than listening to the lies that the father of lies would have you speak to yourself.

Martin recounts a story from a legal adoption in Morris County, where a judge emphasized the irreversible nature of parenthood, to illustrate God's full understanding and commitment when He adopts believers, knowing all their future failures.

No, it isn't. It is speaking truth to myself rather than listening the lies that the father of lies would have me speak to myself. Trying to illustrate this, I spoke to someone who has legally adopted some children in our framework. And I said, this is what I want to say.

31:37 - 31:59 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second privilege is becoming brothers and sisters of our elder brother, the Lord Jesus Christ. Martin uses metaphors like God's kingdom and temple, but focuses on the…

Martin quotes Professor Murray's strong statement that for Mary to remain a virgin after Jesus' birth 'turns her from a noble woman into a witch,' to refute the Roman Catholic doctrine of perpetual virginity and affirm Jesus' biological brethren.

Let me say by way of an aside, the Roman Catholic doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary is sheer, unfounded nonsense. In the language of Professor Murray, for Mary to have remained a virgin after the birth of Jesus turns her from a noble woman into a witch. End of quote.

37:47 - 38:10 Read in full sermon