Perseverance in a Lawless Age

The point: Realistically reckon with the peculiar dangers of living and ministering in an age of abounding lawlessness.

Martin compares living in an age of abounding lawlessness to traveling in a 'third world country' where one must take specific shots and medications to avoid gastrointestinal sickness. This illustrates the need for peculiar spiritual precautions against the dangers of the age.

You and I, each one of us, must realistically reckon with the peculiar dangers. Of living, and my fellow pastors, ministering, in an age of abounding lawlessness. Jesus spoke these words that His followers might realistically reckon with the peculiar dangers of living and ministering in an age of abounding lawlessness. He wants them to recognize that in such seasons, there are peculiar dangers, particularly to dampen the ardor of our professed love to God and to our fellow man. Let me illustrate it this way. Those of us who've gone to so-called third world countries, we are warned, duly warned...

22:45 - 24:05 Read in full sermon

The point: Realistically reckon with the peculiar dangers of living and ministering in an age of abounding lawlessness.

Martin recounts a personal experience in Pakistan, needing to find a latrine in the middle of the night due to sickness, realizing he was a 'fool for not taking the warning.' This reinforces the previous analogy about the consequences of ignoring warnings about peculiar dangers.

Well, you've got to have your track shoes on if you're going to get through the night. I know. Trying to find a little slit in a piece of concrete, two inches wide by eight inches in the middle of the night. In the backyard of a missionary's home in Pakistan, I realized I was a fool for not taking the warning.

24:31 - 24:55 Read in full sermon

The point: Practice continuous, Spartan self-discipline of your bodily appetites.

Martin uses the analogy of athletes in the Grecian games who exercise rigorous self-control to win a corruptible crown. This illustrates the intense, focused self-discipline believers must apply to their bodily appetites to win an incorruptible crown (salvation).

But I do what I do in the relinquishment of my liberties, that I also may be a partaker of gospel blessings. And then he launches into this imagery drawn from the Grecian games. Do you not know that they that run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Even so run that you may attain.

39:27 - 39:57 Read in full sermon

The point: Practice continuous, Spartan self-discipline of your bodily appetites.

Paul's statement 'I therefore so run not as uncertainly' is explained by contrasting it with a leisurely jogger who is unfocused and stops to look at trees. This emphasizes the purposeful, focused nature of the Christian's race.

Everything I do, the things I don't, do are all determined by my passionate commitment to win the prize. They do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we, we an incorruptible. I therefore, here's the personal implication, I therefore so run not as uncertainly. He said, I run not like a guy who's out for a leisurely jog on a lovely fall afternoon.

40:22 - 40:53 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The apparitions of clerical drunkards and the like should forewarn us let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he perish paul expresses his view of this in terms of which the force cannot be fully brought out by the t…

Paul's statement 'so fight I not as beating the air' is explained by contrasting it with Rocky shadow boxing. This illustrates that the Christian's spiritual fight is not aimless but directed at a real enemy and real sin.

That's not me. Then he says, so fight I not as beating the air. I'm not like Rocky out taking his run in Philadelphia streets, shadow boxing. He's out running, music's playing, pow, pow, pow, pow.

41:04 - 41:18 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The apparitions of clerical drunkards and the like should forewarn us let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he perish paul expresses his view of this in terms of which the force cannot be fully brought out by the t…

Martin quotes J.W. Alexander on the neglect of body subjugation in modern times, warning that a minister is not immune to hellfire and citing 'skeletons of lost travelers' as a stark reminder of apostasy. This reinforces the severity of the call to self-discipline and mortification.

Abdakimos, not put on the shelf. That's ridiculous philology and rotten theology. He says, the issue at stake is being tested and disapproved reprobate. And he says, for me, the only way I will be a joint partaker of this gospel that I preach in a pattern of self-denial for the good of others, is if I exercise, spartan self-discipline, over my own bodily appetites and passions. Now, unless some of you think this is some bizarre Al Martin interpretation, I hope J.W. Alexander has a little credibility and he writes, in the present day, out of opposition to the ascetic life, we all probably act t...

41:55 - 43:01 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second essential element is 'continuous Spartan self-discipline of your bodily appetites.' Martin expounds 1 Corinthians 9:23-27, using Paul's athletic metaphors to illustrate…

Martin quotes Spurgeon, who said he doesn't try to reconcile seemingly contradictory truths because 'you only reconcile enemies. I don't spend any time reconciling friends.' This illustrates how to hold in tension the necessity of perseverance and the certainty of God's keeping power.

As Spurgeon said, when people ask us to reconcile truths that seem contradictory, he said, no, I don't try to. You only reconcile enemies. I don't spend any time reconciling friends.

47:02 - 47:11 Read in full sermon

The point: Sanctify the Lord's Day by spending the whole day in public and private worship of God.

Martin shares an anecdote of a businessman who said he'd 'make' the Lord's Day if God didn't mandate it, just to keep his sanity. This illustrates the practical value and necessity of sanctifying the Sabbath for spiritual and mental well-being in a hectic age.

One day a week to set aside our ordinary employments and recreations. And to spend the whole day in the public and the private worship of God. As one businessman said to me some years ago. He said, Pastor Martin, I can't understand all this flap about the Lord's day.

51:24 - 51:43 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The disciplined use of the ordinary means of grace. The sanctifying of a whole day unto God. And when he has torn down the outer bulwarks, it's only a matter of time. When he's in the citadel and drives his knife into th…

Martin states that 'perseverance ain't walking through the tulips.' This metaphor vividly conveys that perseverance is not easy or pleasant but involves enduring hardship and struggle.

The disciplined use of the ordinary means of grace. The sanctifying of a whole day unto God. And when he has torn down the outer bulwarks, it's only a matter of time. When he's in the citadel and drives his knife into the soul of true and vital religion.

54:12 - 54:33 Read in full sermon