The Certainties of the Future

The point: Set your minds resolutely upon the certainties of the future, not as a means of escape from the present, but that we may live in the present as we ought to live.

Martin compares the certainty of future events for believers to the unalterable nature of the past, emphasizing their fixed and unchangeable reality.

to you, that it is right for us as the people of God to have a resolute determination to fix our mind upon the certainties of the future. Yes, with regard to the many particulars that will make up our lives should God spare us and give us life for one tomorrow or many tomorrows, we do not know. There are no certainties. But, and this is the all-important but, there are aspects of our future as the children of God, as God's justified, adopted, blood-bought, spirit-indwelled, true disciples of Christ, that are as much a certainty in our future as though they were already a part of our past. You ...

6:12 - 7:32 Read in full sermon

Driving home: You know what God says of all that we already have? He says it's just a down payment. It's just the earnest. It's just the first fruits.

The present experience of salvation (justification, adoption, Holy Spirit) is described as a 'down payment,' 'earnest,' or 'first fruits,' implying a much greater future completion.

I am reconciled. I have access to his heart and to his throne, the gift of the Holy Spirit. You know what God says of all that we already have? He says it's just a down payment.

15:34 - 15:45 Read in full sermon

Driving home: You know what God says of all that we already have? He says it's just a down payment. It's just the earnest. It's just the first fruits.

God's present blessings are likened to an 'armful' of first fruits from a 'vast field' of what He has prepared, highlighting the immensity of future glory.

It's just the earnest. It's just the first fruits. In the vast field of what God's prepared for you and me, he's just cut an armful. That's all you've got right now.

15:46 - 15:57 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The first certainty is Jesus Christ's return in glory and power to complete His work of salvation in His people. This completion, described in Romans 8:29 and 1 John 3:1-3, means…

Martin uses the visible, concrete reality of people sitting in the pews in their clothes and physical state to emphasize the equally certain, yet future, bodily glorification at Christ's return.

That's a certainty of the future. As surely as you say. Sit here this morning. Appearing in the clothes that you put on in your bedroom or bathroom.

18:54 - 19:06 Read in full sermon

The point: In your struggle with sin, fix your mind upon this certainty of the future. Jesus will come in power and glory to complete His work of salvation in me and in all His people.

He describes the gradual decay of the body, from youth to old age, with hearing aids, dentures, and creaking joints, to illustrate the burden of bodily infirmities that will be overcome by glorified bodies.

He's coming. And he's coming to complete his work of salvation. Now again. salvation in you. He's antsy for His wedding day, and He's going to have it, and He's going to have a bride without spot, without wrinkle, or any such thing. In your struggle with sin, fix your mind upon this certainty of the future. Jesus will come in power and glory to complete His work of salvation in me and in all His people. Are you weary with bodily infirmities? Paul said, We that are in this tabernacle do groan. Though some of you may be in the flush of your youth, and occasionally there's a broken bone or a deca...

21:36 - 22:54 Read in full sermon

The point: Comfort one another with these words [of Christ's return and resurrection].

Martin quotes someone who said that if we could see each other as we will be after Christ returns, we'd be tempted to worship one another, illustrating the profound transformation of glorification.

Is the certainty of the future. That's the certainty. Christ will come and complete his salvation in me and in all of his people. One has said, if we could see one another now, as we shall be the moment after Christ returns, we'd find it hard to resist the temptation to fall down and worship one another as gods. We will always be but creatures, but creatures perfected inwardly and outwardly, not deified, but coming into levels of humanity that we've never experienced. You see, you live with that reality of the future as a mental fixation through all the changes and vicissitudes of life, from g...

26:52 - 28:02 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Fixing our minds on future judgment produces a healthy sobriety and godly seriousness in our entire lives and lifestyles (1 Peter 1:13-17). This conviction should influence every…

The mind is compared to the flowing garb of a Middle Easterner, which needs to be gathered and tied up to prevent stumbling, illustrating the need for conscious mental discipline to focus on godly realities.

You see what he's saying? Your mind is like the flowing. Garb of a Middle Easterner. It's got lots of folds.

38:58 - 39:06 Read in full sermon

The point: Pass the time of your sojourning in fear. That is, have a healthy sobriety and godly seriousness about the whole of life.

Martin expresses grief over young men who want to 'play games into their twenties,' contrasting it with his own experience of being thrust into manly duties, to illustrate a lack of godly seriousness.

You know what one of the most grievous things to me among so many young men I see in our day. They don't want to grow up. They still want to play games into their twenties. They want to have fun, fun, fun, fun, fun.

43:33 - 43:47 Read in full sermon

The point: You think you're going to make it in this degenerate age? Just with little drips and drabs of your Bible? And shallow, frothy, religious fun? You're not going to make it? And when you stand before your judge, what will y…

He challenges those who claim not to read much Bible by asking them to quote books, plot lines, and themes, illustrating the superficiality of their spiritual lives.

I hear some of the younger people say, Well, I don't read so much Bible. I'd like to face anyone who said that and sit down and say, Quote the 66 books of the Bible to me without a mistake. What's the plot line from Genesis to Revelation? What's the sum and substance of the book of Judges?

44:12 - 44:29 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: This conviction liberates believers from a crippling concern about men's judgment of them (1 Corinthians 4:3-5). Paul's example shows that knowing God will bring hidden things to…

The day of judgment is described as 'God's day of hanging out the wash,' meaning a day of public vindication and revelation of hidden truths, which comforts Paul regarding human judgment.

Each true servant of Christ. Each true, upright, Godly servant of the Lord Jesus, no matter how he may be perceived by others. And so Paul can say in the light of this, I know God's day of hanging out the wash is coming. And I don't fear it.

52:17 - 52:38 Read in full sermon