The Life-from-Death Principle Explained

Driving home: For wherever the vital genuine Christianity is present in an individual heart and in the corporate experience of any Christian church, there you will find operative this life-out-of-death principle.

Martin uses the analogy of validating a parking ticket for a clergyman at a hospital to explain what it means to 'validate' the life-out-of-death principle in their corporate experience, signifying a commitment to it.

Don't be discouraged or turned off by the initial impression of that mouthful of words. I layered long and synonym finder, bouncing various approaches off my own wife until I settled upon that particular choice of words in that particular order, and I believe if in dependence upon the Holy Spirit you will give to these words mental effort, and I believe if in dependence upon the Holy Spirit you will give to these words mental effort, and I believe if in dependence upon the Holy Spirit you will give to these words mental effort, and I get the parking ticket from the parking lot, and they have a...

9:04 - 10:23 Read in full sermon

Driving home: in the world of man's salvation there is no life without death in the world there is no life loveth his life looseth it that's the grain of wheat that does not fall into the earth and die he that loves looses it and he t…

He illustrates the 'grain of wheat' principle by describing a grain of corn sitting in a bin, which remains alone and produces nothing unless it falls into the earth and dies, thus explaining the necessity of death for reproduction.

except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die it abides by itself it perished what Jesus was saying he was grain of corn if in your home if it sits there in a bin in your barn it will sit there when someone removes it or a rat comes and eats it but as long as it is on the shelf or the bin and it knows nothing of being placed into the cold damp earth and allowed until by emanation of God processes it uses its life and identity as a grain of wheat or as a kernel of corn it begins to rot and it begins to feed itself and sends a shoot downward and then it breaks up above

33:58 - 35:25 Read in full sermon

Driving home: in the world of man's salvation there is no life without death in the world there is no life loveth his life looseth it that's the grain of wheat that does not fall into the earth and die he that loves looses it and he t…

Martin quotes commentator Lenski, who in turn quotes Augustine, to emphasize that Christ's death as the 'most fertile grain of wheat' was necessary to produce 'millions of children of God,' illustrating the fruitfulness of His sacrifice.

seed promised in Genesis 3.15, the seed missed in Genesis 12. If he is to bear much fruit, he must go into the earth, he must die. And commentator Lenski has beautifully captured as it applies to the Lord Jesus, if a grain of wheat be not put into the soil, it will indeed not die, but it will then itself remain alone and produce nothing. So will the son of man remain alone. If he does not stoop to death on the cross, but if the grain falls into the earth and is consumed, it brings much fruit. So the son of man, God's incarnate son, by dying will produce millions of children of God, fruit in th...

41:01 - 42:07 Read in full sermon

The point: You cannot be saved until you are ready to die to self-will, self-seeking, and self-indulgence; you must hate that natural life.

Martin imagines Jesus, in His troubled soul, looking down through time and seeing the Montville congregation in 1991, singing His praises, and concluding that 'it'll be worth it to have them as my own,' illustrating Christ's motivation for enduring the cross.

One of the things that encouraged him to do so was he looked down through the corridors of time and he saw a group of hell-deserving sinners sitting on an old horse pasture in Montville, New Jersey, in 1991, singing his praises. And he said, Father, it'll be worth it to have them as my own.

63:48 - 64:10 Read in full sermon