Applications from Memorial to Mary #1

Driving home: Their sin was the sin of making a hasty unjudgment concerning the actions of Mary. And they made that judgment because they did not have all the facts.

Martin illustrates hasty judgment with a scenario where a frugal, compassionate believer appears with an expensive gold watch, leading others to immediately judge it as worldliness or poor stewardship, only to discover it was a gift from God.

Now let me illustrate how we do this. Someone in our midst, one of our well-attested brothers or sisters, known to be frugal in terms of his life, in terms of his life, in terms of his life, in terms of the biblical doctrine of being a good steward of money and things. A person known for concern and compassion and large-handed beneficence and kindness to others shows up one Lord's Day with a sure enough real gold watch on his or her wrist. What happens?

24:31 - 25:07 Read in full sermon

The point: Dread and hate the wicked sin of passing unfounded judgments upon one another, especially in matters of things and money.

This illustration describes a struggling couple suddenly appearing with a new car, prompting others to judge them for poor financial stewardship or compromised priorities, when in reality, God provided it miraculously through another believer.

And something that I know has happened in this assembly. One of the couples that you know is struggling. They barely can find two pennies to rub together. Suddenly they show up with a brand new car.

29:19 - 29:33 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: This section exposes the sin of evaluating others' devotion based on one's own spiritual perception and commitment. Martin argues that the disciples judged Mary's profound…

Martin uses the intense devotion of a New York Knicks or Mets fan (staying up late, sleeping out for tickets) to illustrate how people measure others' spiritual devotion by their own lack of it, labeling deep spiritual commitment as 'fanaticism' while excusing their own extreme worldly devotion.

You see, they were guilty of the sin of measuring her by themselves, rather than measuring her by what our Lord assessed her actions and her state of heart to be. Now by application, let me show how we do this all the time in the natural realm, and alas, too often in the spiritual. Do you ever meet a real bona fide, sure enough, New York Knicks or New York Mets fan? I mean a real fan, not a part-time fan, not one like me, that just gets a paper once a week and sees what the standings are and that's it. I mean a real fan. Well, a real fan, he's the one that, when the Knicks or the Mets are play...

39:31 - 40:38 Read in full sermon

Driving home: If a man once understands the sinfulness of sin and the mercy of Christ in dying for Him, he will never think anything too good or too costly to give to Christ.

Martin quotes Bishop J.C. Ryle, who critiques those who decry 'extremes in religion' and 'moderation in the service of Christ,' showing that such criticism is ancient and reveals a lack of obligation to Christ in the critics' hearts.

Now in the realm of the spiritual, brethren, we too often do this with one another. Listen to Bishop Ryle who saw it in his day and commenting on this very sin in his application of this very passage writes, The spirit of these narrow-minded fault finders is unhappily only too common. Their followers and successors are to be found in every part of Christ's visible church. There is never lacking a generation of people who decry what they call extremes in religion and are incessantly recommending what they term, quote, moderation in the service of Christ. If a man devotes his time and money and ...

44:15 - 45:22 Read in full sermon

Driving home: This passage exposes the sin of calculated religious hypocrisy.

Martin explains the etymology of 'hypocrisy' from Greek theater, where actors wore masks and followed a script, illustrating how hypocrites hide their true identity and deliberately play a role.

Now the Bible word, the word in the New Testament for hypocrisy comes from a Greek word that in its etymology, and you don't always prove meaning by etymology. Beware of someone who does that too often. But often in the etymology there's a wonderful picture and you see how the word began to be used, and it means to be a play actor. And if you acted in the old Greek stage, you would not come out with the face God gave you, maybe altered with a false mustache, or made to look old with some dusting on the hair, or altered in some cosmetic way, but you would come out with a precast mask which you ...

54:51 - 56:13 Read in full sermon