Pastor Martin transitions from the mystery of Christ's person to the majesty of His offices, introducing the threefold office of Prophet, Priest, and King. He shows that these offices are biblically rooted, that their success depends on the constitution of Christ's God-man person, that they are indivisible and must never be separated, and that they answer directly to the sinner's threefold need: ignorance, guilt, and rebellion.
7 illustrations in this sermon
Pastor Martin uses the imminent inauguration of Jimmy Carter as a contemporary example of someone preparing to enter an office. So Christ assumes the offices of prophet, priest, and king on behalf of His people.
Governor Carter is preparing himself to assume the office of the presidency.
3:13 - 3:20 Read in full sermon
Pastor Martin candidly tells the congregation he feels his head is six inches off his neck — that recent illness has left him disoriented and that he must stick closely to his notes lest he lose his train of thought mid-sentence.
and we're only two days away from it has left me terribly disoriented. I feel that my head is about six inches away from my neck and my mind is influenced by that sense of detachment. And some of you who know what it is to travel frequently know the problem of what's called jet lag. Well, I'm very acutely conscious of it this morning.
4:54 - 5:16 Read in full sermon
Imagine a major corporation pulling in a vagrant from the street and announcing him as their new CEO. Would the office endow him with financial knowledge or administrative skill? Of course not — and the corporation would crash. Office without person is empty.
Let me try to illustrate. Suppose one of the very large corporations that had oodles of stockholders and millions of dollars in funds should meet Monday morning in a large, posh office somewhere in the Wall Street district, and they were to elect as president of their corporation a man who had absolutely no administrative ability, no financial knowledge, no ambition, no sense as to how to surround himself with people who did know something, would the putting of him in the office of president of the corporation make up for all his deficiencies to run the corporation? Would his being officially ...
19:08 - 19:59 Read in full sermon
The point: Cling to the biblical doctrine of Christ's person not as cold theology but as the foundation of all gospel consolation.
When you are smitten with uncleanness, faith focuses on Christ as priest. When you need light, faith focuses on Christ as prophet. When you are besieged by enemies, faith focuses on Christ as king. Each office answers a particular soul condition.
For instance, when you are smitten with a sense of your own uncleanness, what office of Christ brings the greatest consolation? Is it that He's a prophet? Is it that He's a king? Or is it that He is a priest who makes intercession?
26:11 - 26:27 Read in full sermon
Driving home: The only saving relationship to Christ as prophet is one in which He has also embraced as priest and as king.
Old Socinians wanted Christ as the great teacher but rejected Him as priest who offered a bloody sacrifice. They fragmented His offices, and modern evangelicals do the same when they accept Christ as Savior but reject His lordship.
Many heresies and crippling deficiencies in life have come when men have fragmented our Lord's three offices. Have you ever heard the term Socinian? That's an old-fashioned term for an old-fashioned liberal. Well, they love to acknowledge Christ as a prophet.
31:02 - 31:22 Read in full sermon
The point: Examine whether you feel any of your native ignorance — that is the first step toward needing Christ the prophet.
The little four-year-old asks 'Where did I come from?' and the ninety-year-old philosopher dies with the same questions on his lisping lips: 'I don't know who I am. I don't know what life is for.' Without Christ the prophet, no answer ever comes.
Questions that drive 90-year-old philosophers to their grave with furrowed brows and with the lisping, whispering, despairing confession, I don't know who I am. I don't know what lies beyond death. Do you feel any need of Christ as a prophet? If you don't, it's only because you have no understanding of what you are as a darkened, ignorant, blind sinner.
41:29 - 42:00 Read in full sermon
The point: Take seriously who God is and what you are and what sin is — only then will you feel your need of a priest.
When you feel real guilt, you don't need a little salve or a band-aid on your conscience — you need someone with almighty power to intervene. That is why Christ became a priest.
Someone who can intervene with an almighty intervention. Someone who can put something more than just a little band-aid, a little bit of a salve upon the conscience. someone who can in the language of Hebrews purge the conscience from guilt and cause you to look up into the God of heaven and say, I know my sins are pardoned for the sake of Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin.
43:17 - 43:50 Read in full sermon