Sins of Religious Apostasy

Driving home: But if God detests apostasy from general revelation, then how much more intense is his detestation of apostasy from special revelation.

National sins are likened to a mountain range, with 'foothill sins' forming the bulk and 'mountain peak sins' (moral degeneracy, religious apostasy) rising above all others, emphasizing their prominence and severity.

must primarily be a word on the one hand of denunciation for our national sins and on the other hand a call to national repentance and reformation from our sins using the analogy of a mountain range i've suggested that the sins of any nation are likened unto foothill sins sins that constitute the main bulk and spine of the mountain range but then there are those sins that rise up in their height above all others, like some of the mighty mountain peaks in the great ranges of mountains on the face of the earth. And I have suggested that two of these mountain peak sins of our nation are the sins ...

11:07 - 12:30 Read in full sermon

Driving home: my people have changed their glory that is the true god for that which does not profit be astonished oh you heavens at this and be horribly afraid be he desolate saith the lord for my people they've done something that t…

A man with a pure, bubbling spring in his backyard caps it with concrete and then chips away at a boulder to make a leaky cistern for rainwater. This illustrates the folly of forsaking God (the living fountain) for man-made, profitless alternatives (broken cisterns) in religious apostasy.

be astonished oh you heavens at this and be horribly afraid be he desolate saith the lord for my people they've done something that the pagan nations have not done my people have committed a sin and they have committed a sin and they have committed a sin for the two evils evil number one they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters a living bubbling spring of pure clear refreshing water and have hewn them out cisterns broken cisterns that can hold no water now what's the picture try to envision what the Prophet is saying here is a man who has in his backyard a bubbling spring and when i...

34:45 - 36:05 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin reluctantly addresses the fourth and most painful cistern: a weak, man-centered, flesh-pleasing evangelicalism. He critiques its lack of denunciation of sin, its…

Martin shares personal anecdotes from his childhood (bawling after being excluded from football, crying after a shoeshine corner dispute, getting sick after a teacher's rebuke) to demonstrate his constitutional aversion to confrontation, emphasizing that only God's Word enables him to speak boldly on difficult truths.

When God put me together in my mother's womb, He put together one of the most sensitive, fearful little creatures the world has ever seen. I am so constitutionally averse to confrontation that when I was big enough to go down to the sandlot and play football with the guys who were a little older than I, my mother loves to remind me of this story. That the first time I went down and said, hey guys, can I play? And they said, nah, you can't play.

61:00 - 61:31 Read in full sermon

The point: If you are a broad-shouldered, all-American type who has made your physical abilities your god, repent of that idolatry and profaning of the Lord's Day.

John the Baptist's specific instructions to soldiers and publicans (stop grumbling, be content with wages; don't take more than belongs to you) are used as an example of a clarion call to deep, specific repentance and radical discipleship, contrasting it with vague evangelical messages.

of God where it's wrong and those came to John the Baptist and said what must we do to bring forth fruits for repentance what did he tell them a bunch of general innocuous things no sir he said you soldiers you know what your key sins are grumbling about your wages the advantage of your uniform now stop it be content with your wages the publicans don't take any more than belongs to you he went after their sins some broad shouldered all America comes into this building tonight and says to me preacher I've begun to study my Bible and I see I'm a sinner and I'm lost and I'm on my way to hell what...

72:13 - 73:43 Read in full sermon

The point: If you are a broad-shouldered, all-American type who has made your physical abilities your god, repent of that idolatry and profaning of the Lord's Day.

A young man with a master's degree in sacred organ music from Juilliard, unable to find a job in a biblically sound church, drove a taxi in New York City for over a year. This illustrates radical discipleship and a refusal to compromise one's convictions for worldly success or comfort.

to butt a body across a line and you've made that your God man your God's gonna die and die here and if you're asking me if you can go out and worship that God on the day set apart by the living God for his public worship no repent of your profaning of the Lord brought back did you dig ditches till you can do something more noble I dug ditches to pay my tuition to get some tools to go to the ministry you can dig them we have a young man in our church a graduate of Juilliard School of Music the most prestigious music school on the east coast many would say one of the most prestigious in the wor...

73:43 - 75:08 Read in full sermon

The point: Put away the evil of your doings, learn to do good, cease to do evil, and return to crying out to God for His presence in the church.

Christ's actions in purging the temple, described with vigorous verbs, are used as an analogy for what God will do if He comes to His temple (the church) today: He will purge the sons of Levi with righteous anger, like a 'madman' driving out those who defile His house.

Away with all of our ceremonies and meetings and all of our committee meetings and all of the slick promotionalism and back to the place where we're on our faces saying, oh God, come to your temple. You know the first thing he'll do if he comes? He'll come and he'll purge the sons of Levi that they may offer a sacrifice in righteousness. He'll come like he came to that temple. He'll come like he came to that temple in Jerusalem when with eyes like fire, he brought those strands together into a scourge. And the son of God, I say it reverently, into a...

80:56 - 81:42 Read in full sermon