Display of Human Sin

The point: Honestly reckon with the Bible's teaching concerning human sin.

Martin contrasts modern literature/theater, which makes sin desirable, with the Bible's realism, which makes sin ugly and causes one to abhor it, using David's adultery as an example.

That's where the so-called realism of our day, in literature, in the theater, in the arts, is humbug. It's a bunch of baloney. It's not realism. When you read a modern novel, your own sinful passions are stirred to imitate the bawdy activity of the characters in the novel.

5:06 - 5:29 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not brag about a seared conscience or lack of guilt feelings, as it does not negate the reality of sin and God's judgment.

He compares a seared conscience to a leper whose dead nerve endings prevent them from feeling a real fire consuming their flesh, emphasizing that lack of guilt feelings does not negate the objective reality and destructive power of sin.

Do you know what leprosy is? Yes. that frightening disease that kills both nerve tissue and flesh and even causes bones to rot. I've been told by missionaries who've worked amongst lepers, sad stories of lepers in very primitive conditions where they're dependent upon little wood fires to cook their food and to keep warm.

17:15 - 17:38 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Analyzing Moab's rebellion against Israel (2 Kings 3:4-5), Martin argues that rebellion against God-ordained authority, whether in family, state, or even gender, is ultimately…

Martin traces the spirit of rebellion in his lifetime from children against parents, to college students against authority (e.g., Vietnam War protests), to legislators defying God's law (e.g., abortion, narcotics), and finally to rebellion against God's created gender distinctions.

It is not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed, neither indeed can it be. And is not this the very thing we see in a manner that is absolutely frightening in our generation? If there is anything that is marked what I have seen in my own brief lifetime and in particular since the end of World War II, beginning with the late fifties and on to this very hour, it's as though there is a concerted effort to make every single pattern and framework of God-ordained authority structures.

40:33 - 41:15 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin describes two forms of idolatry: Jehoram's 'half-baked Jehovah worship' (Jeroboam's calves) which blends God's name with self-serving forms, and Moab's raw pagan idolatry…

He recounts an interview with a 'born-again Christian minister' who preaches a 'good news' of happiness and prosperity, equating it to Jeroboam's 'half-baked Jehovah worship' that blends God's name with idolatry.

It's idolatry to the core? I read this article to which I referred very briefly last week, in which the so-called Chaplain of Bourbon Street is interviewed in a recent Sunday newspaper. And the reporter says, I've always figured that so-and-so is a preacher, a born-again Christian minister, whose single aim in the world was to lead lost souls to salvation. This was the impression I received when I met him seven years ago.

48:55 - 49:27 Read in full sermon

Driving home: You see, the ultimate end of all idolatry is self-destruction.

He cites the self-destruction and early deaths of rock stars due to drug worship as a modern example of how worshipping an idol ultimately leads to destruction, mirroring Chemosh demanding human sacrifice.

The god of drugs. Hardly a week passes but what some notable rock star doesn't blow his brains out or kill himself with an oldie. The great heroes of ten years ago, they're dead before they reach thirty. Why?

54:42 - 55:08 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Real blood was shed to make real payment for real sin. That we might have a real pardon.

Rahab's conversion is used as an example of how God's demonstrations of power in Old Testament narratives were evangelistic, leading Gentiles to faith.

And as you read Old Testament narratives, those demonstrations of Jehovah's power were evangelistic in nature. Do you remember Rahab? How did she come to faith? She said, We heard the news of what your God did when he brought you over that sea.

57:03 - 57:18 Read in full sermon