Change of Masters, Practice and Destiny

Driving home: A half-truth presented as a whole truth is a whole untruth.

Martin uses the analogy of a half-truth presented as a whole truth being a whole untruth to explain the danger of incomplete theological understanding, particularly regarding the person of Christ.

Now I would be surprised if there are not many of you who have heard the statement that a half-truth presented as a whole truth is a whole untruth. A half-truth presented as a whole truth is a whole untruth. For example, if you were to ask me, Pastor Martin, what do you believe? What do you believe concerning Jesus Christ?

2:14 - 2:43 Read in full sermon

Driving home: A half-truth presented as a whole truth is a whole untruth.

He provides an example of heresy by stating only that Jesus Christ is a true man, demonstrating how omitting His deity makes the statement a 'whole untruth'.

Who is He? Tell us the whole truth about what you believe and who you believe He is. And if I were to say, Jesus Christ is a true man. He was conceived in the womb of a woman.

2:43 - 3:00 Read in full sermon

Driving home: A half-truth presented as a whole truth is a whole untruth.

He provides a converse example of heresy by stating only that Jesus Christ is true God, showing how omitting His humanity also makes the statement a 'whole untruth'.

That is blatant heresy. If I'm prepared to say He is true man, but that's all that He is. Conversely, if I were to answer and say, my conviction about Jesus Christ is that He is true God. He is very God of God.

3:36 - 3:55 Read in full sermon

Driving home: those that God has put together let no man put asunder. For to sever those truths that God has inseparably joined is to destroy ourselves with whole untruths.

He uses the metaphor of God joining truths together, like in marriage, to emphasize that certain doctrines are inseparably linked and must not be put asunder.

That's only half of the truth. And to present it as the whole truth is to present a whole untruth. You see, the truth is Jesus Christ is just as much man as though He were not God. And just as much God as though He were not man.

4:14 - 4:34 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: This section unpacks the first truth: the change of masters. Martin identifies the old master as 'sin' (personified) and describes the former servitude as real, evident, and…

Martin notes Paul's use of human imagery and analogy to help grasp spiritual truths, acknowledging the difficulty of the subject.

Look at verse 19. Paul is conscious that he's having to use human imagery and analogy in order to help us in our slowness to grasp spiritual truths. And I would simply say for any who are hiding their heads behind others, please shift a little in the pew. I'm not looking in any direction.

15:14 - 15:33 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: This section unpacks the first truth: the change of masters. Martin identifies the old master as 'sin' (personified) and describes the former servitude as real, evident, and…

He illustrates how the 'members' (mind, eyes, hands, feet) were presented as slaves to sin, giving concrete examples of sinful thoughts, lusts, envy, and actions.

He says you presented your members to your master, your mind to think his thoughts. Ephesians chapter 2 amplifies this matter of fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And in your mind you conceived thoughts of atheism, thoughts of blasphemy, thoughts of anarchy against God, thoughts of lust, of murder, of envy, of pride. Your mind, a member of your faculties given by God to think his thoughts after him.

16:31 - 17:05 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: This section unpacks the first truth: the change of masters. Martin identifies the old master as 'sin' (personified) and describes the former servitude as real, evident, and…

He uses Pharaoh's defiant question, 'Who is the Lord that I should obey him?' to illustrate the exclusive nature of servitude to sin, where one regards oneself as 'free' from righteousness.

For when you were the slaves of sin, you were free in regard of righteousness. What does he mean? What he's saying is this. When you were in that relationship of servitude to sin, you regarded yourself a free man, a free woman, a free boy or girl with respect to this other master called righteousness.

18:06 - 18:28 Read in full sermon

Driving home: What he's doing is he's casting them into the mold of the gospel.

He uses the metaphor of God 'casting them into the mold of the gospel' to describe the Spirit's effectual work in regeneration, shaping sinners according to gospel truths.

What he's doing is he's casting them into the mold of the gospel. That gospel says to all sinners, you are lost, you deserve hell, you are helpless, you are undone. Christ is a willing, Christ is an able, Christ is an inviting savior. He stands ready to forgive you for the guilt of sin.

27:49 - 28:13 Read in full sermon

The point: Give all credit to God for the change of masters in your life, acknowledging that only omnipotent grace can effect such a transformation.

He uses the example of parents, despite noble influence, being unable to break sin's dominion or make their children willing bond-slaves of God, highlighting that only God can do this work.

Men by their influence upon other men can get people to make professions. Men by their influence upon others can get people to make decisions. Parents by their noble God-given influence can make perfect little Pharisees who know their Bibles and can quote their text and who live respectable lives. But parents cannot break the dominion of sin in their children.

32:58 - 33:22 Read in full sermon

The point: Find comfort and assurance if you genuinely desire to please God from the inside out and want your life shaped by the Gospel, even if you haven't had a dramatic conversion experience.

He refers to Rome as a 'veritable sinkhole of iniquity' to emphasize the profound nature of the transformation God wrought in the Roman Christians, making Paul's confidence in their change remarkable.

The contours of your life are shaped by the truth of the Gospel. Now all kinds of people profess allegiance to Christ but the contours of their life are shaped by the world, by their peers, by society, not by the Gospel. Paul can write to people living in that veritable sinkhole of iniquity at the center of the Roman Empire and confidently say, God be thanked! God be thanked!

34:30 - 34:59 Read in full sermon

The point: Bring your life from the past week to the clear teaching of Scripture and honestly ask if an impartial observer would conclude you are bringing forth fruit unto holiness.

He uses the analogy of an impartial observer equipped to record every thought, word, and deed from the past week to prompt honest self-examination regarding the fruit of holiness.

Will you bring your life from the past week to this clear teaching? And ask yourself if an impartial observer were somehow able to be equipped with devices that would enable that person to record every thought you thought during every waking moment of every day of the past week, was able to record every word you have spoken, every deed you have done, would that person be forced in the weight of the evidence to say that man, that woman, that boy, that girl is bringing forth fruit unto holiness, unto sanctification, unto a life separated unto God with the moral and ethical implications of that s...

44:28 - 45:57 Read in full sermon

The point: If you are a slave to sin, do not try to break your chains by your own effort, but cry out to Lord Jesus to come and break your chains and cast you into the mold of the gospel.

He uses the metaphor of not using a 'hacksaw of your own unblessed effort' or 'picking the locks of the prison' to break sin's chains, but rather crying out to Christ for liberation.

It is only in Christ Jesus our Lord. You don't take the hacksaw of your own unblessed effort and try to cut your own chains. You don't try to pick the locks of the prison but you cry out of the prison Lord Jesus come and break my chains. Lord Jesus come and open the prison to this man this woman this boy this girl who is bound in his sins.

53:56 - 54:27 Read in full sermon