According to the World & the Devil

In this part of the sermon: Martin uses an illustration of 100 physically dead people returning to life to underscore that spiritual quickening from death is a far more profound and wonderful moral miracle.

Martin imagines the stir if 100 physically dead people returned to life to highlight that spiritual quickening is a far more profound and wonderful miracle.

Can you imagine something of the stir that would be created if we were to announce in the local papers this week that next Lord's Day, May 19th, at 233 Runnymede Road at 11 o'clock, there would gather at least 100, 100 people who once were dead but now are alive. Well of course the stir would be created because people would think that we were making reference to physical death. That 100 people whose death certificates had been duly signed by a licensed physician, whose funerals had been announced, whose names had been listed in the local obituary, to think that 100 such people would come back ...

2:46 - 4:05 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin explains that spiritually dead men conduct their lives 'according to the course of this world,' using the Greek word 'aion' (age) to denote a fixed standard. He illustrates…

Used to explain 'according to' as meaning 'regulated by a fixed standard,' illustrating how instructions govern assembly.

Ye once walked according to the course of the world, according to the prince of the power of the air. Now the two words according to are used to translate the one little Greek word which means in conformity to, in line with. Let me illustrate. Maybe one of you young fellows has bought yourself a 10-speed bike and to get a bargain you got one that was disassembled and you came home with nothing but a box full of parts.

10:09 - 10:40 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin explains that spiritually dead men conduct their lives 'according to the course of this world,' using the Greek word 'aion' (age) to denote a fixed standard. He illustrates…

Used to further explain 'according to' as following a pattern, illustrating how a recipe governs culinary efforts.

Or maybe one of you young ladies has got ambitions to learn how to cook. And so you're taking a simple recipe from your mother's cookbook and it says put the ingredients, together in this order or after this manner. And you've got to follow the pattern laid out in the recipe or you're going to turn the stomachs of mommy and daddy and brother and sister and your efforts at cultivating the culinary arts as they are called are doomed to fail. Well then the apostle says when these Ephesians were dead their true condition and in that condition there was valid and genuine activity only within the sp...

11:23 - 12:30 Read in full sermon

The point: Understand that the clearest indication of being delivered out of this present world system is feeling constant conflict with it.

Illustrates how unregenerate individuals blend seamlessly with the world system, never feeling out of place, until God delivers them.

understand is this. The clearest indication that we've been delivered out of this present world system is that we feel ourselves constantly in conflict with it. One of the surest marks that you've been delivered out of this age of this world is that you find yourself constantly in conflict with it. As a drop of water blends in with the ocean into which it is cast, to move with its waves, to undulate with its movements, never to feel out of place.

25:09 - 25:45 Read in full sermon

The point: If you find no conflict, no wrestlings, no warfare, no sense of being out of place in the world, you have reason to question whether or not you're a Christian.

An example of a common social situation where a believer feels conflict due to differing standards, illustrating the tension of being 'in the world but not of it.'

Neighbors just want to get together for an innocent time of sharing. So what do they do? They invite you to a cocktail party. They can't get their tongues loose till they get half juiced up with booze.

27:53 - 28:04 Read in full sermon

The point: Remember that this world system is but a passing 'eon' or 'age,' and the conflict will not go on forever.

An example of the moral compromises in the business world (white lies, half-truths) that a believer must resist, highlighting the constant conflict.

And you go point after point in the place of business. There are no such things as moral absolutes. There are white lies. There are business lies. There are half-truths. There are twisted truths. Why? Because everybody knows you just can't make a buck and call it an honest buck anymore.

28:25 - 28:42 Read in full sermon