Work Out Your Own Salvation

Driving home: And many times the worst and most crippling and damning errors in religion are comprised of one aspect of truth viewed, believed, and practiced independent of its God-given counterpart.

Martin uses the analogy of truth being a razor's edge and error a vast flatland to explain why truth is often more complex and error more simple, and how half-truths can be crippling.

of how to live the life of God. As surely as verses 6 through 11 are a watershed of the teaching of the Bible concerning the person and work of Christ, verses 12 and 13 are a watershed of the biblical teaching on the subject how are we to live the Christian life. Now, error is always more simple and many times more powerful, plausible than truth. Truth is like a razor's edge.

7:31 - 8:09 Read in full sermon

The point: Gird up the loins of your mind, determined in dependence upon the Holy Spirit and in the context of conscious mental endeavor to grasp its teaching.

This describes a common erroneous teaching on Christian living, where passivity and surrender are emphasized to the exclusion of conscious effort, which Martin critiques.

Now, one major area in which errors crippling, deluding, and at times damning errors abound is the whole aspect of how are we to live the Christian life. There are those who teach, have taught in the past and teach to this very day that the heart and soul of the Christian life is to be understood in terms of a disposition of letting go and letting God. What one has rather humorously described as the rely and relax perspective on the Christian life.

8:49 - 9:34 Read in full sermon

The point: Gird up the loins of your mind, determined in dependence upon the Holy Spirit and in the context of conscious mental endeavor to grasp its teaching.

This metaphor illustrates the idea of being completely passive, allowing the Spirit to flow through, which Martin argues is a dangerous half-truth.

We are to be as passive as a funnel allowing the water of life to flow through us. And if we can only attain to that level of consecrated surrender and passivity, we shall have unlocked the great secret to the Christian life. And any suggestion that we are to wrestle, that we are, to struggle, that we are to fight, that we are rationally and consciously to engage all of our faculties in pursuit of the revealed will of God is looked upon as anathema. And on the other end of the spectrum, there are those who seem the biblical emphasis upon struggle and warfare and fighting and agonizing

9:46 - 10:31 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin explains that God's work and human effort are not mutually exclusive but happen simultaneously. He refutes theories that suggest human effort stifles the Spirit, using the…

Martin uses the concurrent realities of his speaking and a fan humming to explain how God's working and human working are concurrent, not alternating.

According to this text, God's working and our working are concurrent realities. Now what do we mean by concurrent? Well, they're going on at the same time. My speaking and the hum of that fan circulating air above your heads are concurrent realities.

40:14 - 40:37 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin explains that God's work and human effort are not mutually exclusive but happen simultaneously. He refutes theories that suggest human effort stifles the Spirit, using the…

The act of preaching is used as an example: the preacher's diligent effort and prayer for God's power are both necessary and concurrent, not one negating the other.

Come with power. Make the Word effectual. Lord, You must work. Does that mean then that I should stand up here like this?

44:28 - 44:36 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Now my friends, if that's true, then some of us better pack it in and quit. Because the history of our lives is probably 75% center more, doing that which we know to be revealed in scripture, conscious not of divine impu…

An old Dutch theologian's quote beautifully captures the balance: act as if doing it all ourselves, but then give all praise to God, acknowledging His work.

You see, our working is to be the focus of our conscious effort. An old Dutch theologian captured this truth beautifully when he said, when we are called upon to speak, to act, or to fight, we do so as though we were doing it all ourselves. Not perceiving it is another who works in us both to will and to do. But as soon as we finish the task successfully and agreeably to the will of God in scripture, as men and women of faith, we prostrate ourselves before him and cry, Lord, the work was yours, as were the prayers

52:03 - 52:47 Read in full sermon

The point: When you feel mental dullness, shake it off and do whatever is necessary to keep yourself awake and engaged with God's word, then give thanks to God for enabling your effort.

Martin uses the humorous example of pinching oneself to stay awake during a sermon to illustrate the conscious, deliberate effort required in spiritual disciplines, even when feeling dull.

chapter 2. So you feel a dullness coming over you. What do you do? You shake it off.

55:34 - 55:39 Read in full sermon

The point: If you are powerless before certain sins, recognize this as God's mercy to prevent self-salvation, and cry out to Jesus for the grace to conquer them.

Martin shares that he has heard testimonies from church members who were delivered from various addictions and sins (alcohol, illicit sex, hatred), serving as 'living monuments' to God's power to work in people.

believe that. My friend, sitting here this morning are people who at one time were enslaved to every single major category of sin listed in the Bible and seen in our society today. I have sat with my fellow elders and heard the testimony. People who were utterly addicted to booze and alcohol, liberated.

57:37 - 57:59 Read in full sermon

The point: If you are powerless before certain sins, recognize this as God's mercy to prevent self-salvation, and cry out to Jesus for the grace to conquer them.

The story of the blind beggar (Bartimaeus) crying out to Jesus is used to illustrate how helpless sinners should approach Christ for salvation and deliverance from sin.

if you're here is one who feels utterly helpless, thank God it's the helpless Jesus came to save. And you can take the place of that poor blind beggar. When Jesus was passing by he cried out son of David, have mercy on me. And people say shut up.

58:47 - 59:05 Read in full sermon