Final Glorification, Part 2

The point: Refuse to live in morbid dread of death - it is an unpleasant but fatherly discipline that will release you to Christ.

Pastor Martin pictures Stephen pummeled by stones - hatred, prejudice, and cruelty bringing death in ugly garb. Yet Stephen looks death in the face and says, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' Death is just a loving discipline in the Father's hand.

How did Stephen view his own death? His death was only a matter of moments away. His death was being brought to pass, incorporating within those factors that were effecting his death, vicious hatred, blind prejudice, cursed unbelief,

12:39 - 13:03 Read in full sermon

Peter speaking of his approaching death uses 'exodus' - a leaving, a departure. He is calm, planning his legacy, not anxious about the laying aside of his earthly tent.

As long as I am in this earthly dwelling to stir you up by way of reminder, knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, even as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made it clear to me, referring to the prophecy recorded in John,

15:27 - 15:50 Read in full sermon

The point: Don't make your devotional language top-heavy with disembodied longing - long instead for the resurrection of the body.

Paul likens his body to an old patched-up, moth-eaten earthly tent. He longs not just to put it off but to be clothed upon with his eternal house from heaven - resurrection, not mere disembodiment.

longing what? To be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked. For indeed, while we are in this tent, we groan. He likens his body to a tent, even as Peter did. We groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

29:23 - 29:51 Read in full sermon

Pastor Martin notes that nutrition writer Adele Davis says nothing of Eden, the fall, or the wages of sin - reminding us that humanistic health theories ignore the theological reality of mortal bodies.

Yes, you will not find in Adele Davis any word about Eden and man's fall and the wages of sin is death. Now, am I standing here to make a flat condemnation of everything that's written on the subject? of eating well and understanding nutrition? No, for if I were doing that, I would stand here to condemn myself. But what I'm saying is, beware of pagan philosophies which treat the body as though it had in itself the powers of immortality. And if you'd only get the white sugar out of it, and the other carcinogens out of it, why we could begin to all live to be a hundred and then

36:36 - 37:29 Read in full sermon

The point: Reject humanistic theories of health, birth, and body that pretend sin has not entered the body - rest your hope in the resurrection.

He calls out 'pumping iron' - spending hours moving biceps from 16 to 17 inches - as deifying the body. Be honest about the vanity behind it.

Pumping iron, what's that mean? Well, those who do it know what I mean. You spend too much time getting those biceps from 16 to 17 and the chest from 43 to 45. And if you were honest, you'd see you're spending more time every week pumping iron than you are on your knees pleading with God for advancement in grace.

39:36 - 40:00 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize the doctrines of demons in any teaching that forbids marriage and meats or treats God's good gifts as threats.

Paul tells the teetotaler Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach's sake - even if it adjusts a point of conscience. This is the balance of caring for the body without deifying or demeaning it.

Apparently, by conviction or upbringing, whatever it is, Timothy was a known teetotaler. And Paul says, no longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments. Now, I'm not going into the whole place of wine. The issue is, Paul says, Timothy, in all of your pursuit of the disciplines of godliness, don't forget your bodies.

46:25 - 46:53 Read in full sermon

Was the Father more pleased to see Christ fasting forty days or feasting at a wedding? Equally pleased - because both expressed His will. A test of biblical balance about the body.

Or when he saw him feasting? Or was his pleasure equal when he beheld him feasting? When he beheld him fasting? Now that's a good test of whether or not you're thinking biblically. Because the Father was as pleased with his Son when he feasted as when he fasted.

52:38 - 53:04 Read in full sermon

The point: Add the third and fourth notes to your devotional refrain: 'I am not what I once was; I am not what I shall be.' Stop plunking only the first two.

He pictures discouraged believers plunking only the first two notes on a banjo: 'I'm not all I should be, I'm not all I desire to be.' He calls them to add the next two notes: 'I'm not what I once was; I'm not what I shall be.'

And that's the history of some of you. Plunk, plunk, plunk, plunk, year in, year out. Not all I should be. Not all I desire to be. And you spend all your time plunking those two notes in your banjo. And everyone that gets near you hears those notes. And you are the worst advertisement for the Christian faith. Now, thank God in the judgment of charity, I believe some of you are in. But you're sure a poor advertisement for what you have. Not all.

57:46 - 58:11 Read in full sermon