Promises, Privileges, Prospects of a Christian

In this part of the sermon: Martin delves into the first main point: the Father's action in not sparing His 'own Son,' emphasizing Christ's unique relationship to the Father and defining 'spare' as…

Paul's statement in 2 Corinthians 13:2, 'if I come again, I will not spare,' illustrates the meaning of 'spare' as a spiritual father not withholding deserved chastisement from disobedient children.

Now what does the word spare mean? Well in this context it means to withhold a measure of the chastisement due to a disobedient child or the punishment due to a guilty criminal. This word, spare, is the word that Paul used in 2 Corinthians 13 when dealing as a spiritual father with the Corinthians. He wrote to them and used this word in 2 Corinthians 13, verse 2b, that if I come again, I will not spare.

8:27 - 9:02 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin delves into the first main point: the Father's action in not sparing His 'own Son,' emphasizing Christ's unique relationship to the Father and defining 'spare' as…

The examples from 2 Peter 2:4-5, where God 'spared not the angels' and 'spared not the generation in Noah's day,' further clarify 'spare' as God bringing full, deserved punishment without withholding.

In other words, he says, if I come and I find that you've not dealt with the things that you ought to deal with, as a loving, wise, but principled father, I've spoken to you with words, I will come with a spiritual rod of correction, and I will not spare you. I will not withhold, I will not refrain myself from the spiritual chastisement that your actions deserve. It's the same word used in 2 Peter, chapter 2, verses 4 and 5, where God spared not the angels. When innocent angels become guilty, criminal, rebellious angels, they deserve the punishment of God. He did not spare them. He brought tha...

9:02 - 10:05 Read in full sermon

The point: If you won't use your God-given head to think the way God thinks, and the way He's revealed His thought in Scripture, you're doomed to be an unstable Christian.

An analogy of a student solving advanced calculus and then being able to do simple addition is used to explain the logical principle of arguing from the greater to the lesser, which Paul employs in Romans 8:32.

And we do this all the time. If you're sitting in the class and there's a student who solved a complex problem in advanced calculus, and then you had a little simple addition to do in order to know how much you owed someone in a loan that you made, you would say, surely, if he can solve that problem in advanced calculus, he can do simple addition. You're arguing from the greater to the lesser. Now that's exactly what Paul is doing here.

15:09 - 15:36 Read in full sermon