Not of Yourselves, The Gift of God

Driving home: But lest you think that this believing means that you have contributed something to your salvation and therefore neutralize the gracious character of salvation, let me add, even the act of believing is not of yourself, b…

Martin uses examples of children making grammatical errors with pronouns (Johnny and 'she,' Mary and 'they') to explain the concept of pronoun agreement in number and gender, setting up the grammatical problem in Ephesians 2:8.

I believe that's the way we are to understand the words of the Apostles, however, there is a problem with this understanding, and it's a problem of grammar. And I have sought to be honest with the problem of grammar, and I want you to be honest, so you're going to have a little grammar lesson this morning, to the end that you might be blessed by the truth of the word of God. Usually, in any language, pronouns must agree with their nouns in number, that is how many, single, plural, and gender, that is male, female, or neuter. Now you children, you know this all the time.

11:21 - 11:55 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin provides two further reasons for his interpretation: the immediate flow of thought favors it by advancing the argument that even faith is gratuitous, and the emphasis of…

He compares the Holy Spirit's repetition of truth to hitting a rock with a sledgehammer repeatedly in the same spot until it breaks, illustrating that sometimes God repeats truths because humans are slow to grasp them.

You're being guilty of unnecessary and meaningless repetition. Now, sometimes the Holy Spirit speaks that way. He knows we're so thick that the first blow of the hammer only sends a crack that he keeps hitting right at the same spot. Any of you ever have to break rock?

18:58 - 19:12 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The first practical effect of understanding faith as God's gift is a greater appreciation for God's salvation, leading to intensified devotion. Martin illustrates this with the…

This extended analogy describes three beggars brought back from a coma by a kind man. Each beggar's level of gratitude and understanding of their benefactor's work increases as they learn more about their initial condition and the man's deliberate plan, illustrating how deeper understanding of God's grace (including the gift of faith) leads to greater appreciation and glory to God.

Ah, he does. Let me illustrate it this way. Three beggars. They all of them are so bad off that they've entered into a coma.

32:55 - 33:04 Read in full sermon

The point: The second profound effect will be in keeping preaching central in evangelism whether preaching one to one quietly in the home or preaching publicly preaching preaching by means of literature that explains the scriptures…

Martin recounts receiving a letter from missionaries who use marionettes, ventriloquism, flannel graphs, and magic in their evangelism. He uses this as a negative example of human-centered methods that arise from a failure to believe that faith is God's gift, contrasting it with the simplicity of apostolic methods.

and there's two puppets my wife and I are missionaries with the blank mission I won't mention it appointed to the field of blank as children's workers we'd like to have the opportunity of sharing with you the talents Christ has given us we're graduates of such and such a school and such and such an institute specially trained in working with children now listen marionettes ventriloquism huge flannel graph boards and magic are all a part of our unusual approach to missions if you'd like to have us come you can contact us at beloved this is an evangelical mission board that's recognized by the E...

41:21 - 42:46 Read in full sermon