Foundations: Common Experience of Grace

Driving home: But in the language of the psalmist, if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

Church unity is compared to a building. The foundation represents the essential elements, without which the superstructure (church life) cannot stand against winds of sin, world, and devil. If the foundation is strong, minor damages can be repaired; if not, the whole structure collapses.

we are now prepared to address the question, how shall we attain it, and how shall we attain it in the future? And in seeking to sort out the biblical witness in answer to that question, I suggest that you may find it helpful, as I do, to think in terms of the unity of the church attained and maintained in terms of the foundation of a building and its superstructure. In the attaining and the maintenance of church unity, there are certain things that lie at the very foundation of that unity. Without it, there can be no substantial church unity in the superstructure of our church life. If that f...

4:38 - 5:45 Read in full sermon

Driving home: But in the language of the psalmist, if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

The foundation of church unity is likened to reinforced concrete, made of three commodities (gravel, cement, steel rods), representing the three basic elements of biblical church unity: common experience of grace, common convictions, and common commitment.

ask, if the foundation is never laid, what will the superstructure do with the first little gust of wind? And you remember from our Lord's closing illustration in the Sermon on the Mount how foolish it is to build any structure of any kind in the realm of religion that does not have proper foundations. For sooner or later, the winds which have their origin in remaining human sin, in the pressure of the world, or in the machinations of a wicked devil, will huff and will puff, and they will surely blow our house down unless it has biblical foundations. And so tonight we're going to concentrate o...

6:15 - 7:43 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The carnal mind is enmity against God. The whole prevailing disposition is one large clenched fist in the face of God.

The 'carnal mind' is described as 'one large clenched fist in the face of God,' illustrating its inherent enmity and rebellion against God's authority and law.

That enmity with God, Paul says it is enmity itself. The carnal mind is enmity against God. The whole prevailing disposition is one large clenched fist in the face of God. That's it. The carnal mind is enmity against God. Now how does it show it is enmity? For it is not subject to the law. Romans 8-7. Romans 8-7. Romans 8-7. Romans 8-7. Romans of God. You see its enmity is manifested not in what the lips may say concerning God, but in the prevailing disposition of the will to the authority of God as manifested in the law of God. The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to t...

11:44 - 12:55 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: When God's grace transforms a sinner, a 'heart of flesh' is given, producing repentance and faith, and subsequently the 'fruit of the Spirit' (Galatians 5:22-23) like…

God's transforming grace is described as taking out a 'heart of stone' and giving a 'heart of flesh,' symbolizing regeneration and the new capacity for repentance and faith.

The first element, the first ingredient in the foundation materials of biblical church unity is a common experience of the saving grace of God. Now, what kind of people does that grace come to? It comes to people who have carnal minds, enmity against God, who manifest that enmity by refusal to be subject to the law of God, the cardinal expression of which, at the horizontal level, comes out in the friction, the animosity, the envying, the bitterness, the jealousies in interpersonal relationships. Now, what happens when God in grace effectually lays hold of a sinner and through the preaching of...

19:39 - 20:39 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: When God's grace transforms a sinner, a 'heart of flesh' is given, producing repentance and faith, and subsequently the 'fruit of the Spirit' (Galatians 5:22-23) like…

Repentance is likened to the 'oracles' and faith to the 'ventricles' of a newly implanted spiritual heart, emphasizing that both are essential and actively 'pumping' in a living spiritual heart.

The beatings of that heart of flesh are the beatings of repentance and faith and faith and repentance. We might call repentance the oracles and the end of faith the ventricles of a newly implanted spiritual heart. And any heart that's a living heart that pulses life through a living human being will have both sets of chambers pumping. And when God gives a new heart, a new heart, it's first beats are the beats of repentance and faith and faith and repentance.

20:39 - 21:17 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: When God's grace transforms a sinner, a 'heart of flesh' is given, producing repentance and faith, and subsequently the 'fruit of the Spirit' (Galatians 5:22-23) like…

The concept of 'long-suffering' is illustrated by enduring someone's 'chronic halitosis' or 'dragon's mouth,' making the abstract concept concrete and relatable to everyday interpersonal annoyances.

Suffering be shown in any other relationship than one in which someone makes you suffer. Maybe they make you suffer by their bad breath. Chronic halitosis. Dragon's mouth.

22:01 - 22:13 Read in full sermon

Driving home: That's the they. And anyone else doesn't fit in this prayer.

The misuse of John 17 by the modern ecumenical movement is illustrated by its efforts in Trinidad to unite Hindu priests, Roman Catholic priests, and evangelicals, highlighting the danger of ignoring the specific 'they' Christ prayed for.

Now it is for these people that he prays that they may be won. And frankly it angers me when the modern ecumenical movement that thumbs its nose at 99% will take this one phrase out of the end of John 17 and make it their whole religion that they may be won. Oh, now as they are doing down in Trinidad where our dear brother Amrish Samarath labors, the ecumenical movement is as bold it wants to make the Hindu priests won and the Roman Catholic priests won with all evangelicals and Protestants that they all may be won. Didn't Jesus pray that? Ah, but the question, who is the they? Who is the they...

30:25 - 31:24 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It was the chickens coming home to roost from decisional, cheap evangelism.

The inadequacy of superficial conversion experiences is highlighted by mentioning churches 'full of people' with decision cards and dates in their Bibles who are 'at one another's throats,' demonstrating that these external acts do not guarantee true regeneration or unity.

He's not assuming they all had a place written in the fly leaf of the Bible where they recorded the time they walked an aisle. They've got churches full of people. The decision cards and dates and the fly leafs of their Bibles, who are at one another's throats.

38:44 - 39:00 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It was the chickens coming home to roost from decisional, cheap evangelism.

Martin recounts his five years as a traveling evangelist, finding churches plagued by 'disruptions and factions and splits,' attributing these problems to 'chickens coming home to roost from decisional, cheap evangelism.'

When I was an evangelist in a traveling ministry for some five years, and went to evangelical churches up and down this country and some into Canada, I found church after church that had a history for decades of disruptions and factions and splits and all the rest. What lay at the heart of all of those problems? I'll tell you what lay at the heart of it. It was the chickens coming home to roost from decisional, cheap evangelism.

39:02 - 39:36 Read in full sermon

The point: Determine to maintain a biblical standard for admission into the visible church, requiring a credible profession of faith with sufficient doctrinal content and manifest evidence of transformation.

An anecdote about a man in a parking lot who professed faith but only knew Christ was 'good' illustrates the danger of superficial, content-less faith and the need for a credible profession of saving doctrine.

There is a plan that can be realized in the 3rd course and itcill in Lessons 2 and 3 It's got to be more than that poor chap I met years ago in a parking lot and I was witnessing him somewhere in the South and I said, do you believe on Christ? He said, oh, yeah, I believe on Christ. I said, what do you believe about him? I believe he's good.

55:54 - 56:10 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin urges maintaining a biblical standard for church admission, requiring a credible profession of faith with sufficient doctrinal content and manifest evidence of the gospel's…

A hypothetical scenario of a man applying for church membership, demonstrating deep doctrinal knowledge but living in unrepentant fornication, illustrates that intellectual assent without transformed life is not credible saving faith.

We don't expect people to be full-grown men. But if a man comes with his arm locked on his paramour and says, I'm applying for church membership. Why? I believe God has saved me.

57:18 - 57:29 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin urges maintaining a biblical standard for church admission, requiring a credible profession of faith with sufficient doctrinal content and manifest evidence of the gospel's…

A person known for gossip and ill will is described as having a 'tongue 14 feet long and every bit of it is full of the venom of gossip and ill will,' emphasizing that a credible profession of faith must include evidence of the Holy Spirit's work in taming the tongue.

And if the person coming for that membership interview is known to have a tongue 14 feet long and every bit of it is full of the venom of gossip and ill will,

58:50 - 59:01 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin urges maintaining a biblical standard for church admission, requiring a credible profession of faith with sufficient doctrinal content and manifest evidence of the gospel's…

John the Baptist's interaction with soldiers and publicans (Luke 3:10-14) is used as an example of demanding tangible 'fruits meet for repentance' rather than merely accepting a verbal profession, illustrating a biblical standard for admission.

That's what a lot of people in our day say. Not John. He says, You bringing forth fruit meet for repentance. Hey, you soldiers.

59:31 - 59:40 Read in full sermon

The point: Maintain a biblical standard of continuance in the membership of the visible church, as tolerating known sin undermines church unity.

A.W. Tozer's statement that 'cancer is an abnormally fast multiplication of human cells, but it's deadly' is quoted to warn against valuing numerical church growth over spiritual purity, as growth can be a sign of spiritual disease if unregenerate people are admitted.

My friends never forget it. I'll never forget when a W Tozer said it either publicly or in a personal conversation. I don't know it. He said, Never forget that cancer is an abnormally fast multiplication of human cells.

61:12 - 61:28 Read in full sermon

The point: Maintain a biblical standard of continuance in the membership of the visible church, as tolerating known sin undermines church unity.

The cases of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5) and the immoral man in Corinth (1 Corinthians 5) are contrasted to distinguish between hidden sin (known only to God) and public, known sin, arguing that church discipline is required for the latter.

The basic truths of the gospel. If you value it, church unity? Maintain a biblical standard of admission into the visible church if you value church unity, but maintain a biblical standard of continuance in the membership of the visible church if you value church unity? How can there be oneness of harmony and harmony of understanding and affection and purpose and activity if you have sons of darkness and sons of light living together in the same fellowship, no longer sons of darkness who are clever hypocrites, as Ananias and Sapphira were until God exposed them? We can't blame Peter and the ot...

62:03 - 63:05 Read in full sermon