Exposition of Romans 12:1-2, Part 1

Driving home: The great indicatives of the Gospel are the foundation of all the imperatives of the Gospel.

Martin uses his physical position behind the lectern as an 'indicative statement' (a statement of fact) to illustrate the grammatical concept of an indicative, contrasting it with an imperative.

It is a statement of what is, whereas an imperative is a command or a statement of what ought to be. When I say that I, Albert N. Martin, am standing behind the lectern placed on the left of the reduced platform in the multipurpose room, this room of Trinity Baptist Church, that is a long indicative statement. That's a statement of fact.

12:02 - 12:32 Read in full sermon

Driving home: So it is God's provisions, in Christ, and the application of those provisions to us by the Holy Spirit, the great indicatives, the great facts of Gospel provision, which underscore the imperatives.

He uses the command for him to speak clearly as an 'imperative statement' (a command) to illustrate the grammatical concept, contrasting it with an indicative.

But anyway, that's what I meant by this reduced platform. Well, that's a statement of fact. What is a statement of command or imperative would be Albert N. Martin ought to speak and enunciate his words with sufficient clarity to be understood by every person, including those sitting on the pew on the back of the church.

13:01 - 13:23 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Whenever we find a therefore in the Bible, we must ask, what is it there for?

Martin recalls a saying from his youth: 'Whenever you find a therefore in the Bible, ask yourself, what is it there for?' to emphasize the importance of understanding the connection between preceding and subsequent text.

You've asserted, now prove. Whenever we find a therefore in the Bible, we must ask, what is it there for?

24:10 - 24:24 Read in full sermon

The point: If you miss the doctrinal context of a sermon, seek to understand what preceded to grasp the full meaning and motivation of practical exhortations.

He describes a hypothetical person arriving late to church, missing Romans 1-11, and thus failing to understand the 'therefore' in Romans 12:1, illustrating the necessity of knowing the doctrinal context for practical instruction.

I beseech you therefore whatever I'm about to plead with you to do or to be or to become derives its leading perspectives its motivation its pressure from all that has gone before. So, what does that tell us about anyone who may have come late to church that Sunday morning when one of the leaders or the elders or one of the official readers was reading Paul's epistle and he came in all out of breath and plopped down in the assembly right when the reader came to what we now know is chapter 12.

33:00 - 33:43 Read in full sermon

The point: If you struggle to grasp fundamental doctrines, humble yourself and seek the Holy Spirit's enablement to understand, rather than defying God's way of making you holy.

He uses the example of teaching a systematics course to clarify that while deep doctrinal understanding is crucial, it doesn't mean every Christian must be a seminary professor, but rather that the Bible was written for ordinary people.

keep your hands off you won't understand and feel the pressure and the weight and the perspectives that you ought to in terms of how to relate to Caesar unless your soul is percolating with the truths of chapters 1 to 11 so there is no room for doctrinal indifference now does that mean we all have to have such a great grasp on biblical doctrine that if Pastor Nichols should get laryngitis you could step right in and teach his systematics course in the academy well none of us would complain if that was true of the whole congregation

39:25 - 40:09 Read in full sermon

The point: Continually feed in faith upon the great doctrines of the Christian faith to be in a position to fulfill its duties and responsibilities.

Martin quotes John Fox's description of God's elect from 1 Corinthians 1 as 'God's five-ranked army of descending human weakness' to illustrate that God chooses the humble and despised so that no flesh may glory before Him.

for behold your calling brethren not many noble not many mighty not many wise some doesn't say not any but not many behold God hath chosen the foolish and the things that are not and the base and the things that are despised God hath chosen James says the poor in this world to be rich in faith so for the most part God's elect are chosen from down because God wants no flesh to glory before him he wants no one to look at that new humanity and say well they must be something special in themselves and that's why God

40:52 - 41:37 Read in full sermon

The point: If spiritual realities go over your head, humble yourself, thank God for showing you your spiritual inability, and seek His mercy for spiritual sight and understanding.

He uses the simple example of two men being 'brothers' because they share the same parents and blood to illustrate how Christians are 'brethren' by having the same spiritual parent through regeneration.

and incorporation into Christ now let me ask a very simple question here in the earthly situation what makes people brothers nothing profound anyone want to venture a nice simple obvious answer yes pardon blood makes them brothers alright expand on that a little bit for us Vince how do they get the same blood okay what makes two men brothers they have the same parents what makes us brethren in the Christian sense we have the same spiritual parent by nature the scripture says we are not the children of God though we are

44:35 - 45:20 Read in full sermon

The point: If spiritual realities go over your head, humble yourself, thank God for showing you your spiritual inability, and seek His mercy for spiritual sight and understanding.

Martin describes an unbeliever in the class who feels like a 'total dunce' because spiritual truths go over their head, using this to illustrate the spiritual inability of the natural man to understand the things of God without regeneration.

my dear friend may I say it lovingly you know why that's all going over your head because you don't understand the language of the family because you're not in the family you see you're still in Adam a sinner lost and under the wrath of God you are bringing to this class perhaps 140 IQ a good elementary school education maybe even a college education and you're bringing to it a good mind an alert mind but you see you don't bring to it the one thing necessary to understand spiritual realities you've never been born of the spirit and the scripture says the natural man receives not the things of ...

46:48 - 47:33 Read in full sermon