Depth of Attachment to Christ Tested in Trials

The point: Ask God for the present, powerful ministry of the Holy Spirit to teach us inwardly and accurately the truth of His word, taking dullness from our minds and undressing our eyes.

Martin describes how in systematic Bible reading, a passage often proves 'tailor-made' for the day's specific need, illustrating God's providential timing in revealing His word.

You may not read through the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, every year, but over the course of two, three years, you find yourself going through the entirety of the Word of God in some kind of systematic order. And if that's true of you, then you have found, as I have found, many times, in that regular, programmed, scheduled reading of the Word of God, some portion in that particular day's reading, was tailor-made for the need of that day. Had you been searching for a passage somewhere between Genesis 1-1 and the last verse in Revelation 22, you know you could not have found a more appropr...

3:42 - 4:51 Read in full sermon

The point: Ask God for the present, powerful ministry of the Holy Spirit to teach us inwardly and accurately the truth of His word, taking dullness from our minds and undressing our eyes.

He extends the 'tailor-made' concept to the congregation's experience, where systematic preaching often brings forth a passage or theme precisely relevant to an unforeseen critical concern in the church, highlighting God's sovereignty in sermon planning.

And we have found, as a congregation, time after time, the regular, consecutive, public reading of the Word has brought forward a passage, an incident, a principle, a precept that was tailor-made to our congregational life. And that's also been true of the systematic reading. Preaching through books or large sections of the Bible, or the systematic unfolding of certain themes in the scriptures, and unknown to the one who began that series, God who knew the end from the beginning, tailor-made something in that consecutive exposition that was specifically addressed to a critical concern in the c...

4:52 - 6:19 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that true saving faith will always become a tried and tested faith in order that it may be a praiseworthy faith in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Martin uses the metaphors of a 'six-week classroom' and 'six-week laboratory' to describe the recent period of trials, emphasizing that God has been actively teaching and testing the congregation's faith.

The ultimate purpose is that this proven tested faith may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now, given that aspect of the opening up of the text, one of my final observations and applications was couched in these words. True saving faith will always become a tried and tested faith in order that it may be a praiseworthy faith in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. And given the dispositions of divine providence that have placed us in a six week classroom to learn this lesson or to change the imagery, a six week laboratory in which the spirit of God has be...

8:30 - 9:55 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that true saving faith will always become a tried and tested faith in order that it may be a praiseworthy faith in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The sermon's central metaphor, 'smelting furnace of our faith,' is introduced to describe how trials purify and refine faith, making it more precious.

of the heart of our study in our last exposition. I want to speak to you on the subject how our recent trials have been the smelting furnace of our faith. How our recent trials have been the smelting. Furnace of our. Faith. How our recent trials have been the smelting. Furnaces of our faith.

9:55 - 10:11 Read in full sermon

The point: Understand that the recent trials have been a 'smelting furnace' engineered by God to test, purify, and develop our faith, and it would be tragic to come out of this experience without learning its purpose.

He contrasts merely understanding the principles of trials as a 'teacher of the word' with the actual experience of being in a 'six-week furnace' or 'laboratory,' underscoring the difference between intellectual assent and lived experience.

melting furnace of our faith. It was one thing for me as a teacher of the word to seek responsibly to open up the text. It was one thing for you to sit with a discerning, critical mind in the right sense and to see if what was expounded was indeed true to the language and the connection of thought. It's quite another thing to have understood the principles of God's purpose in manifold trials with respect to the purifying of faith. It has been quite another to be in a six week furnace. It has been quite another thing to have been thrust into a six week laboratory experience engineered by the Go...

10:11 - 11:31 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that the devil attempts to put something or someone else between us and Christ in the realm of our affections, even after conversion.

He uses the analogy of 'brownie points' (like the Pharisee in Luke 18) to illustrate a false understanding of earning God's favor through good deeds, contrasting it with the naked grasp of faith in Christ.

So you have people thinking they can bring their brownie points to God like the Pharisee in Luke chapter 18. I do this. I do that. I don't do this.

21:01 - 21:09 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin directly applies this to the recent congregational trials, asserting that God is testing the depth of believers' attachment to Christ's person, especially when deep human…

Martin distinguishes the church as a 'body,' 'family of God,' and 'living temple with living stones' from a mere 'religious club,' emphasizing the organic, divine nature of congregational membership.

It is the same Christ who by his providence incorporated you into this particular body of his people. It was not some accident or mere personal preference that you became a part of this body, not this religious club, this body, this family of God, this living temple with living stones. You remember in Acts chapter 2, it says, And the Lord added to them daily such as should be saved. You found yourself in the Jerusalem church.

25:08 - 25:40 Read in full sermon

The point: Cut through the smoke of your emotions and look into the face of your Savior, asking if He, by His word and unavoidable providence, is truly taking you out of the body, family, or living temple of the church.

He references the scattering of the Jerusalem church in Acts 8 due to persecution, contrasting it with voluntary departures and illustrating a clear instance of unavoidable divine providence for leaving a church.

And I am saying, unless the clear word of Christ in which he judges false shepherds, on facts, not rumors, and false teachers by what they teach contrary to the word of God, and a church that is no longer a true church because it won't discipline, it won't order its worship, that's how Christ delineates when you ought to leave a church. When by his providence he extricates you, and it's unavoidable as he did at the Jerusalem church. They had an exodus that makes ours look like kids play overnight. Read Acts chapter 8.

31:02 - 31:44 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

He uses the analogy of Pharisees waiting to 'catch Jesus in His words' to express his concern that some might misrepresent his sermon, highlighting the difficulty of speaking pastorally in sensitive times.

And that's not my concern this morning. I keep repeating it because as often as I do, if someone sits here like the Pharisees did, waiting to catch Jesus in His words, they'll go out and report and say, Pastor Martin lambasted those who left and I'll just have to live with the lie. But I hope you won't believe it. You were here and you heard it straight from the horse's mouth, saying nothing about those who go away.

36:00 - 36:21 Read in full sermon

The point: Be prepared to say, 'Unless the Christ who speaks in Scripture gives me compelling scriptural reasons to leave this assembly, I will not leave the voice of Christ that I hear in this place.'

He reiterates the distinction between being 'signees of a club' and 'members of a body' with a 'common nerve system and a common life,' emphasizing the deep, organic connection among believers in Christ's church.

I said distinct and unique. And if you love the voice of Christ in the secret place in your own devotions and family worship, you will love those aspects of the voice of Christ in which He utters that voice in the assemblies of His people and in those whom He has given as pastors and teachers. You're prepared to say, unless the Christ who speaks in Scripture gives me compelling scriptural reasons to lead this assembly, I will not leave the voice of Christ that I hear in this place. The presence of Christ that I see in those to whom He has joined me as members in a body, not signees of a club.

37:33 - 38:17 Read in full sermon

The point: Forget about what others are doing or why they left; focus on Christ's clear will for you and follow Him, remembering His ultimate sacrifice.

He tells the story of a young man who chose loyalty to Christ and the church over a marriage, illustrating the depth of principled loyalty to the Savior in the face of profound personal cost.

to Christ as the supreme object of love and devotion if that attachment is a saving one then you love Christ more than father mother brother children or your life and there sit here this day some who have learned this in the last 6 weeks there sits a young man who had held before him this carrot leave this church and you will have the woman on whose ring you put on finger you put a ring and with whom you set a marriage date refuse to leave this church and she'll be taken from you and he sits in this place today not out of blind loyalty to a church but out of principled loyalty to his Savior.

45:26 - 46:21 Read in full sermon

The point: Forget about what others are doing or why they left; focus on Christ's clear will for you and follow Him, remembering His ultimate sacrifice.

Martin shares a personal anecdote of his wife weeping in fear for his life due to 'murderous, vicious things' from some who left, illustrating his own commitment to Christ despite severe personal cost and threats.

I stand here only because of that commitment. When I've had to leave my wife weeping for fear of my life when she has been made privy to things you know nothing of of the murderous, vicious things and that's not true of all who have left. I make it plain. It is not true of all but it is true of some.

46:54 - 47:18 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not be bullied into a false sense of guilt for staying in the church if Christ bids you stay, and recognize that God is testing your believing attachment to your Savior.

He uses the terms 'dribble' and 'bullied' to describe the pressure to feel guilty for staying in the church, encouraging believers not to succumb to false guilt.

I marvel how the playing field doesn't get leveled. It's alright to say after praying and searching the scriptures Christ has bid me leave. But for you to say Christ bids me stay that's an idolatrous attachment to the church and to people. My friends, look through and see through that dribble and don't be bullied.

48:06 - 48:26 Read in full sermon

The point: If the pressure of a few fractured human relationships makes us tremble, consider what we will do if it means being thrown in a hot box and tortured for confessing Christ.

He uses the analogy from Jeremiah about running with footmen versus contending with horsemen to illustrate the need for spiritual preparedness and muscle-strengthening for greater future trials.

God said to the prophet Jeremiah if you've run with the footmen and you've grown weary how will you contend with the horsemen in the swelling of Jordan? If you're pooped out and ready to quit jogging along with the footmen what are you going to do to keep up with horses? The question is clear.

51:00 - 51:16 Read in full sermon

The point: Understand that being a Christian is serious business, a total, one-way commitment to Christ, like a 'suicide bomber' with 'no gas for the return trip.'

He uses the vivid metaphor of a 'suicide bomber' or 'one-way pilot' from WWII to describe the total, irreversible, and costly commitment of a Christian to Christ, with 'no gas for the return trip.'

and we may look back upon the language of Peter in first Peter chapter one and never forget what God taught us from his word and validated in our own experience that if need be we are in heaviness through manifold trials that the trial of our faith being more precious than gold that perishes may be found to praise and glory and honor at the appearing of Jesus Christ. And for you who profess no attachment to Christ I hope if you've got nothing else you understand being a Christian is serious business. We're not in the business of getting people psychologically conditioned to crank up a hand and...

52:43 - 53:51 Read in full sermon