Effect This Should Have on Believers, Part 2

The point: Take a stance of unflinching stability in the face of persecution, even death, fearing God more than those who can only kill the body.

Bishop Hooper's statement, 'Life is sweet and death is bitter, but eternal death is more bitter, eternal life more sweet,' is quoted to illustrate unflinching stability in the face of persecution, motivated by the fear of eternal death.

For as the right hand and the right eye must be brutally, mercilessly dealt with, or we shall be cast into hell. And it's only when the confessed disciple, the professing Christian, is convinced of the absolute necessity of holiness at any cost that he will be prepared to pay the price in this duty of mortification. And then, secondly, we saw that it's this doctrine of hell which should cause the Christian to take a stance of unflinching stability in the face of persecution, even in the face of death. For Jesus said, Don't fear those who kill the body, but fear him who can cast soul and body i...

2:31 - 3:54 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The doctrine of hell should produce constancy in cultivating a spirit of forgiveness towards others. Martin expounds Matthew 18, particularly the parable of the unforgiving…

The analogy of keeping 'little check marks' on a three-by-five card is used to explain that true forgiveness, as taught by Jesus, knows no bounds or limits, unlike Peter's suggestion of seven times.

I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven. In other words, Peter, the spirit of forgiveness keeps no little check marks.

7:38 - 7:49 Read in full sermon

Driving home: A forgiven man will be a forgiving man. And if I'm not forgiving, it's because I am truly not forgiven.

Martin uses a thousand-to-one ratio (e.g., $1000 vs. $1.20) to illustrate the vast difference between the debt forgiven by the king and the small debt owed to the forgiven servant, highlighting the disproportionate unforgiveness of the servant.

Now, he turns around, the man who's been forgiven, and he goes out, and finds one of his fellow servants, who owed him a hundred shillings. And if you take, I'm reading from the American Standard, if you take the amount, it's about a thousand to one. The debt that this man had forgiven him by the king, was the equivalent of, say, a thousand dollars. And he finds one of his fellow servants, who owes him about a dollar twenty.

9:08 - 9:34 Read in full sermon

The point: If you have unforgiveness in your heart, go to the cross and ask the Holy Ghost for a sight of Jesus that will break your heart.

The metaphor of 'what I, the worm, have done to my God' is used to diminish the perceived offense of a 'fellow worm of the dust' against oneself, thereby motivating forgiveness by contrasting it with God's immense forgiveness.

To me, yes. But do you know what you did to God? For once that grips me, that I, the servant, the creature, have offended the Lord, the King, and He has forgiven, what can a fellow worm of the dust do to me that can begin to compare what I, the worm, have done to my God? You see, once the spirit of forgiveness is in some little measure understood, the forgiven man becomes a forgiving man.

15:00 - 15:37 Read in full sermon

The point: If you have unforgiveness in your heart, go to the cross and ask the Holy Ghost for a sight of Jesus that will break your heart.

The example of Jesus saying, 'Father, forgive them,' while on the cross, is used to demonstrate the ultimate act of forgiveness and to challenge those who claim they 'can't forgive.'

Unless you repent, if you can't forgive, you must be delivered to the tormentors. Oh, my friend, if you can't forgive, go to the cross. Behold the rising form of the Son of God placed there by the scheming, underhanded chicanery of that apostate religious crowd, when the spittle of their own wicked mouth is dripping from his face, mingled with his own blood. He says, Father, forgive them.

16:16 - 16:55 Read in full sermon

The point: Be a spur to watchfulness and faithfulness in your stewardship of gifts and opportunities, not allowing service to become indifferent.

The metaphor of 'the wheels of devotion well oiled' and 'the engine of service driven by the fuel of his constraining love' contrasted with 'feet grow reddened and the joints become stiff' illustrates the fluctuating nature of spiritual fervor and the need for motivation like the doctrine of hell.

Another way in which this doctrine should affect the child of God in terms of motivation, it should not only be this influence to produce consistency and constancy in the spirit of forgiveness, but it should be a spur to watchfulness, to faithfulness in our stewardship of gifts and opportunity. What a blessed thing, again, to have the wheels of devotion well oiled, by the sense of the presence and sweetness of Christ, to have the engine of service driven by the fuel of his constraining love. But the pressures of the world, the influence of our own flesh and of the devil are such, at times the ...

17:17 - 18:42 Read in full sermon

The point: Be a spur to watchfulness and faithfulness in your stewardship of gifts and opportunities, not allowing service to become indifferent.

The analogy of finding 'the nearest hill and put on a white robe and sit down and look up and wait for the clouds to part' is used to clarify that watchfulness for Christ's return does not mean passive waiting but active spiritual alertness.

Our Lord has been speaking of the necessity of being watchful in the light of his return, and that doesn't mean you find the nearest hill and put on a white robe and sit down and look up and wait for the clouds to part and for Christ to come. It means to have all your spiritual faculties about you. It means to be fully alert of the issues and not to allow your heart to become so engrossed in temporal things as he says in another context. Beware lest your heart be overcharged with surfeiting and banqueting and the cares of this life and that day come upon you unawares.

18:42 - 19:16 Read in full sermon

The point: Don't be content with anything less than reality in your religious experience; seek vital experience that transforms your life, not just notions or words.

Martin uses the analogy of a preacher being 'held by truth' rather than merely holding truth to explain that genuine Christianity involves the truth taking hold of and molding one's life, not just shaping notions or words.

parrot the term, but where there's true Christianity, the life is held by the truth. Are you held by truth this morning? Does the truth hold you? See, this is one of the mysteries and the glories of preaching. You never know what's going to happen because you never know where the truth is going to take you. You see, a preacher doesn't come into this pulpit with his sermon, something he has to give to the people. No, no. I say to you young men preparing for the ministry, if that's your idea in any way, ask God to give you the truth. If that's your idea in any way, ask God to purge it out of you...

30:25 - 31:17 Read in full sermon

The point: Let the doctrine of hell be an occasion for holy dread and godly fear, recognizing that this is an integral part of true worship of God's awesome anger.

The metaphor of God's character as a 'beautiful gem that is seen in different lights' is used to explain that different aspects of God's character draw forth different, yet all true, responses of worship.

Like a beautiful gem that is seen in different lights I say it reverently the character of God is contemplated in different respects and in each respect it draws forth a different response all of which are part of true worship. When we think of God in the light of Psalm 103 like as a father pities his children so the Lord pities those that fear him. What should that draw forth from us? It should draw forth that sense of confidence.

40:11 - 40:40 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Finally, the doctrine of hell should be the occasion for holy dread and godly fear of God. Martin explains that different aspects of God's character evoke different responses, and…

An anecdote about Scottish friends who, due to their emphasis on God's holiness, never call Him 'Father' in prayer, is used to illustrate an extreme, though understandable, response to God's dreadfulness, contrasting it with the New Testament emphasis on 'Abba Father.'

Some of my dear friends from up in the highlands of Scotland have so preserved this concept of God that they never call him father when they pray. And one of them admitted he said I just couldn't call God father. When they approach him it's always most holy. And eternal God.

42:56 - 43:15 Read in full sermon