Jesus and the Sadducees - Two Vital Applications

The point: When confronted by those who make their minds the measure of reality, don't cower; unashamedly acknowledge that God is bigger than any human brain.

Martin uses the analogy of a powerful computer in a business to illustrate that even the most advanced human creation is inferior to the human mind that made it. This serves to highlight the greater arrogance of making the human mind (a creation) the measure of God's infinite power and wisdom.

this the other day when I stood in a computer room of a business that has four different stores in four different locations and the central computer brain was in that room and I happened to be there at the time when several of the stores were feeding in the information of all of the invoices and sales for the day and then as the man who was operating this thing told me how it operated and what it did and how it stored everything and then everything was put on a tape and that was put in a fireproof safe so if everything burned or a bomb dropped on it they could recover their records for so many...

34:34 - 35:15 Read in full sermon

The point: Expound the word of God to skeptics, even if they don't believe it to be God's word, letting the 'lion out' to do its work.

Martin quotes Martin Luther's analogy of a lion in a cage to explain how to deal with those who don't believe the Bible is God's Word. Instead of arguing, one should 'open the gate and let the lion out,' meaning to simply proclaim God's Word and let it do its powerful work.

Where do you find that in the Bible? Martin Luther, in his own quaint way, dealt with that issue when discussing the whole matter of whether or not he should quote the scriptures to people who did not recognize their authority or try to prove that the Bible is the word of God. He said, well, if you have a lion in a cage and a man standing right there in the middle of the room, you are not going to believe that the word of God is the word of God. He said, well, if you have a lion in a cage and a man standing right there in the middle of the room, you are not going to believe that the Bible is t...

47:24 - 47:45 Read in full sermon

The point: Expound the word of God to skeptics, even if they don't believe it to be God's word, letting the 'lion out' to do its work.

The story of an evangelist repeatedly quoting 'He that believeth not shall be damned' to a skeptical man illustrates the power of God's Word to convict, even when the hearer initially rejects its authority. The man is later broken and seeks salvation.

thunder of soul and spirit joint and marrow it and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. And a man doesn't need to confess his belief in it to feel its cutting power. The story is told, and it's true, of an evangelist who in his preaching one night in a large evangelistic meeting made it plain he believed in the doctrine of everlasting punishment. And some modern Sadducee came up to him afterwards and said, Mr. So-and-so,

48:19 - 48:52 Read in full sermon

The point: Don't be put in bondage by feeling you must answer every argument from unsaved classmates or relatives; be like the blind man who simply testified to what he knew.

The account of the blind man healed by Jesus in John 9 is used as an example for believers not to be intimidated by intellectual arguments. The man's simple, unshakeable testimony ('Once I was blind, now I see') is presented as a model for resting in personal experience of Christ's saving power.

And the religious leaders had it all figured out. They said, look, whoever healed you can't be Jesus because he's a sinner. God doesn't hear sinners. So we know he didn't heal you.

52:18 - 52:26 Read in full sermon