The Lordship of Christ, Part 4

The point: Cultivate a conscious reliance upon the Holy Spirit every time you open the Bible.

Martin uses the metaphor of a 'hard, fibrous core of self-confidence' that even grace doesn't completely dissolve, to illustrate humanity's inherent resistance to dependence on God.

We're born with a hard, fibrous core of self-confidence, and even a deep, thorough work of grace doesn't completely dissolve that core of self-confidence.

0:20 - 0:33 Read in full sermon

The point: Cultivate a conscious reliance upon the Holy Spirit every time you open the Bible.

Martin quotes an unnamed servant of God: 'At any point that we are not consciously relying upon the Holy Spirit, we will invariably be found relying upon ourselves.' This highlights the constant need for conscious dependence on the Spirit.

And I trust in these days of our meetings together, that God may teach us this, as we pause for just a moment before each study, exposition of the Scriptures, that God will teach us what it is to cultivate a conscious reliance upon the Holy Spirit. One of God's servants has said in a choice little book, a statement which has gripped me in past days, at any point that we are not consciously relying upon the Holy Spirit, we will invariably be found relying upon ourselves. At any point that we are not consciously relying upon the Holy Spirit, we will be found invariably to be relying upon ourselv...

1:05 - 2:15 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Before addressing the message to Sardis, Martin focuses on the identity of the speaker: the Lord Jesus Christ, as revealed in Revelation 1. He emphasizes Christ's penetrating gaze…

Martin contrasts the 'seminate Jesus of the religious artists' with the glorious, sovereign Christ seen by John, to emphasize the true, awe-inspiring nature of the Lord.

John was found on His face. And I believe in the light of this principle that we would not be doing justice to our Lord's pattern of revealing His mind to the churches, did we not first of all consider who speaks to the church and then we will move in to what He speaks to that same church. And so we find in the first few phrases of chapter 3 and verse 1, These things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God and the seven stars, a reference to chapter 1 and verse 16, he had in his right hand seven stars. He saith, whom John, if you are to rightly understand and respond to my voice, the semin...

7:05 - 8:13 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Before addressing the message to Sardis, Martin focuses on the identity of the speaker: the Lord Jesus Christ, as revealed in Revelation 1. He emphasizes Christ's penetrating gaze…

Martin references John falling on his face before Christ in Revelation 1 to illustrate the appropriate response of humility and worship before the sovereign Savior.

all Christian Christians and in worship, the sinner finds forgiveness broken at the feet of the sovereign Savior. That's where the praise is renewed and revived, at the feet of a sovereign glorified Christ. If God would give us that, I believe we'd have all that. How did John see him briefly, and only briefly, I've already spent five Sunday nights preaching on verses 12 and 13 in our own church fellowship back in Caldwell, and I'm not going to try to do that tonight. Threefold I will be buried ...which penetrates and when John

9:37 - 10:56 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin elaborates on the essential elements missing in mere profession: genuine heart repentance (illustrated by the prodigal son), honest submission to Christ's absolute…

Martin imagines what the prodigal son *didn't* say upon returning, such as focusing on shame, ragged clothes, or psychological troubles, to illustrate what false or superficial repentance sounds like.

I'll tell you what he didn't say. He didn't say, Dad, you know, I got to thinking. I was out there in those hog pens, and I thought of the family name, and I got kind of ashamed of myself. And I looked down at my raggy clothes, and I realized I'm in no shape to ever get a wife this way.

26:00 - 26:15 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin elaborates on the essential elements missing in mere profession: genuine heart repentance (illustrated by the prodigal son), honest submission to Christ's absolute…

Martin highlights the prodigal son's actual words, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven,' to illustrate genuine repentance as a recognition of sin as an offense against God.

He said, Father, I have sinned against heaven.

26:30 - 26:36 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin elaborates on the essential elements missing in mere profession: genuine heart repentance (illustrated by the prodigal son), honest submission to Christ's absolute…

Martin describes the prodigal son knowing mercy was only 'back home where the father was,' not in the 'hog pens' or 'brothels,' to illustrate that true mercy is found only in returning to God.

And pardon for that sin. And a willingness to turn from it. He didn't send a telegram to his dad while he was still in the hog pens and ask his dad to come and meet him there. He knew there was mercy at the father's door.

27:41 - 27:57 Read in full sermon

The point: Honestly and squarely face the implications of the crown of Jesus Christ and submit to His absolute authority.

Martin points out the prodigal son's willingness to be a 'hired servant' to illustrate repentance as a change of mind leading to submission to the father's rule.

He comes in the morning and looks up to the master and says, what are my orders for the day? And the son who didn't want the rule of that father and left the house to get from underneath that rule now comes back with a change of mind to the father's rule and says, I'll make you a rule. The rule of my life. I'll be your hired servant.

28:46 - 29:05 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine if your reputation for being a zealous, devoted servant of God still aligns with the vitality of your actual experience of grace.

Martin compares a new believer's heart leaping at God's voice to 'the heart of a maiden at the voice of her lover,' to illustrate the fresh, spontaneous joy and desire for God in early conversion.

You made time to pray because you had a wholesome distrust of the potential of your own wicked heart. You made time to pour over the Scriptures because in the newness of your espousal to Christ, faith in hearing His voice made your heart leap like the voice of a young maiden, or like the heart of a maiden at the voice of her lover.

35:22 - 35:48 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin then addresses true believers who once had a legitimate reputation for spiritual life but have since lost their vitality. He describes the initial sensitivity to sin…

Martin uses the analogy of Moses' face shining without his awareness to describe the natural, spontaneous outflow of witness from a truly vital Christian, who is unaware of their spiritual impact.

Because there was that sensitivity, there was a natural, spontaneous outflow of witness. You got with a group of Christians, and being completely unaware of it, like Moses who whistled after his face was gone, as you spoke, there was a freshness, there was a room of authority. And it wasn't long before people who wanted to know God somehow felt that if they got around you, they'd know Him a little better.

36:23 - 36:49 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin then addresses true believers who once had a legitimate reputation for spiritual life but have since lost their vitality. He describes the initial sensitivity to sin…

Martin uses the metaphor of a 'crack in the bell' that doesn't ring clearly to describe the subtle loss of authority and genuineness in a believer's witness when their experience has waned.

There's a crack in the bell. There's a crack. It doesn't ring clearly. Or you say the same words.

37:32 - 37:41 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not come to the Lord's Day without feeling the pain of estrangement from your Lord if you have neglected the secret place with God.

Martin alludes to the lover in Song of Solomon searching desperately for her beloved, to illustrate the agony and fervent pursuit of God that characterized a believer's early spiritual life.

You were like the one in the song Solomon. Who? Went out into the night and she said, Oh, tell me, tell me, have you seen my beloved? I must find him.

40:26 - 40:35 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not dismiss the Holy Spirit's conviction of unjudged sin as mere 'hypersensitive conscience.'

Martin defines a 'callous' as a defense against irritation, applying it to a 'calloused heart' that builds defense mechanisms against the 'prickles of the spirit,' illustrating how sensitivity to sin is lost.

Beloved, I didn't read this in a book. I've read it in the book of my own heart. For what is a callous? The gracious defense against an irritation.

46:20 - 46:38 Read in full sermon

The point: Day by day meet the gaze of Christ's refining fire, asking Him to purge and try your heart, never being too busy to seek Him.

Martin shares his personal plea to his church to pray for him, describing the pulpit as 'the most dangerous place and the easiest place to go to hell' due to the pressure to fake spiritual vitality.

For you see, every time we stand in this pulpit, we're supposed to stand here with something fresh from God. And if we don't have anything fresh, then if our hearts are blocked, then the secret place is moving, moving in the air of spiritual sensitivity. We've either got to stand up and tell our people we aren't what we ought to be and ask them to pray. Maybe hand back our check for the week and sit down.

50:30 - 50:58 Read in full sermon

The point: If exposed by Christ's eye, do not cower away but embrace its searching gaze and press to Christ for grace, mercy, forgiveness, cleansing, and renewal.

Martin alludes to the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector to illustrate that true justification comes to those who humbly acknowledge their sin, not those who boast of their righteousness.

Sinners. Sinners who feel themselves to be just what they are. For the man who soon said, I thank thee I'm not as other men, he didn't go to his house justified as the man who stood up way off and beat his breast and said, Oh God, be merciful, be propitiated to me. A sinner.

53:42 - 54:07 Read in full sermon