The Enunciation of God's Changeless Standard #3

In this part of the sermon: Pastor Martin opens with prayer, emphasizing God's receptiveness to genuine prayer, and then explains why he is dedicating this evening sermon to applications he ran out of time…

Martin explains why he simplified his morning sermon, realizing there were 'raw pagans' in the audience who needed the gospel presented simply, impacting his sermon preparation and delivery time.

And the longer I preach, the less I am confident that I know, because I see things up here that you don't see. I became aware just a few minutes before the service that God had put in our midst, not a few, people that as far as I know had no acquaintance with the gospel. So things that in my notes would have taken just a minute to say, I'm talking to raw pagans and I may never have a chance to face them again. And I will answer to God for whether or not my hands are clean of their blood.

3:02 - 3:32 Read in full sermon

The point: Be discerning as to whether what you hear is indeed the biblical gospel, using a biblical grid to identify error.

He uses the analogy of a frog slowly boiled to death in gradually heated water to illustrate how error seldom comes as a sudden blow but rather through gradual, subtle erosion of truth, leading to apostasy.

You're going to approach it in a gracious, biblically ordered way, but you will not sit there and allow yourselves, like the frog in the pot, to be boiled to death. You know the thing about the frog in the pot. Apparently if you put a frog in a pot of water, cold water, and just gradually raise the heat, you biologists can tell me whether this is a fairy story, I'm told this is true, that he so adapts, if you raise the heat slowly, he'll eventually allow himself to be boiled to death. Don't be the frog in the pot.

18:40 - 19:15 Read in full sermon

The point: Be discerning as to whether what you hear is indeed the biblical gospel, using a biblical grid to identify error.

Martin cites the decline of Princeton University from a bastion of truth (Warfield, Edwards, Hodges) to hiring radical sociologists, as an example of what happens when people are too lazy to acquire a grasp of truth.

Tolerance is lowered until someone who lives long enough or reads what a church once was say, how in the name of all rationality could a place that was once such a bastion of truth be a sinkhole of the stinking, foul, rotten stuff of liberalism? Mr. Burkett knows what I'm thinking about. You walk the campus of Princeton University and say Warfield, Jonathan Edwards, Davies, the Hodges, men who sanctified thinking and expression of the Christian faith feeds us to this day. How can they hire, as they did in the last couple of years, one of the most radical sociologists in all the world? Advocati...

19:27 - 20:30 Read in full sermon

The point: Determine to remain tethered to the truth of the gospel, understanding that departing from it means departing from Christ and God.

He describes a goat tethered to a post to keep a lawn clipped, illustrating how conversion 'tethers' believers to the gospel, restricting their movement within its boundaries.

That's right. The dictionary definition of a tether is a rope or chain fastened to an animal so as to keep it within certain bounds. And when an animal is tethered, he is chained not to hinder mobility, but to restrict it within a certain boundary. I remember one time being in a farm home when I was in the traveling ministry and I marveled at their closely cropped beautiful lawn.

22:01 - 22:31 Read in full sermon

The point: Remember the issues, even when you don't have the answers to subtle erosions, recognizing that untethering from the gospel leads to despair.

Martin quotes Dr. Bob Martin saying, 'I never met a liberal who wasn't a sweet guy,' to warn young people that attacks on faith often come from seemingly Christ-like, persuasive individuals, not overt enemies.

That won't be the real area of temptation. It will be with that person who seems to exude such a Christ-like demeanor. As Dr. Bob Martin said, and I'll never forget, he said, I never met a liberal who wasn't a sweet guy.

37:06 - 37:21 Read in full sermon

The point: Remember the issues, even when you don't have the answers to subtle erosions, recognizing that untethering from the gospel leads to despair.

He quotes A.W. Tozer's definition of 'laws of nature' as 'God's predictable paths through his created order,' which he can radically shift (miracle), to counter skepticism about bodily resurrection.

Skepticism about bodily resurrection, anything that does not fit. called laws of nature. And I must digress and say, in listening to the late A.W. Tozer recently, I loved his definition of what we call the laws of nature. He said they're nothing but God's predictable paths through his created order. But because they're his paths, at any time, he can radically shift them. That's called miracle. And we believe in the God of order and the God of miracle. You see, the attack may not come with the doctrinal content of the gospel. It may come with the ethical demands of the gospel. And that's where ...

38:51 - 39:27 Read in full sermon

The point: Show zeal for the gospel in the focus of our prayers, making them kingdom-oriented and gospel-focused.

Martin recounts how Trinity Baptist's prayer meetings shifted from a 'litany of the walking wounded' (focused on physical ailments) to kingdom-oriented, gospel-focused prayers, illustrating the importance of prayer focus.

In the focus of our prayers. And I thank God that this has marked this assembly for a number of years. When I first came here in 1962. Up to North Caldwell.

49:14 - 49:27 Read in full sermon

The point: View all natural contacts as gospel opportunities, recognizing God's providential placement for evangelism.

He shares his personal experience of increased gospel opportunities during family medical involvement, highlighting how suffering can open doors for evangelism and reorient priorities.

get weary and quit, or they'll cave in and capitulate. And eventually you'll get what you want. You will. What do you want? Do you want to see the kingdom of darkness shaken with blows struck against it by kingdom-focused prayers? Then let's commit ourselves afresh to be a church zealous for the proclamation of the gospel, prayers focused on the success of the gospel, all of our natural contacts viewed as gospel opportunities. I've had the opportunity to share little bits and pieces, but in the midst of all of the medical involvement in our family in the last three years, one of the most thril...

51:18 - 52:15 Read in full sermon