Identifying Marks of a True Christian

Driving home: All who are the true people of God manifest every single one of these distinguishing characteristics. If one of them is lacking, you are not of the true circumcision.

Martin draws an analogy between Dr. Ferguson's explanation of the Beatitudes (chosen to contrast prevailing religion) and Paul's selection of distinguishing marks (chosen to cut to the heart of Judaizing error), showing intentionality in both cases.

Those of us who were preeminent, who were privileged to be at the family conference, will remember that when Dr. Ferguson was opening up the Beatitudes, he made the point in his introductory exposition that when our Lord describes the subjects of the kingdom of grace in those blessings of Matthew 5, he did not choose them capriciously or arbitrarily, but he selected those character traits which stood out in stark, contrast to the mentality of the religion that prevailed in that day. Well, in the same way, when the Apostle would put, as it were, the spotlight upon the distinguishing marks of th...

15:27 - 16:52 Read in full sermon

Driving home: All who are the true people of God manifest every single one of these distinguishing characteristics. If one of them is lacking, you are not of the true circumcision.

He uses the analogy of a baseball batting average (hitting one or two out of three) to emphasize that all three distinguishing marks must be present in a true Christian, not just some of them.

Many other things constitute the distinguishing marks of God's people. This, this list is not exhaustive, as surely as it is not arbitrary. And then the third thing I want to say is that they constitute a unit. When Paul says, we are the circumcision, we are not then free to say, well, in the big leagues, if you get a hit once out of every three times, you bat 333, you might even win a batting title with that.

16:53 - 17:26 Read in full sermon

The point: For those who do worship by the Spirit, recognize that the measure is too small and the degree too weak, and strive for more.

Martin provides a progression of examples (wooden cross, candle, adorned choir) to illustrate how external, visible, and tangible aids to worship are introduced as the life and power of the Spirit depart from a church.

In direct proportion to the absence of the Holy Spirit will be the introduction and the inclusion of carnal aids to worship. First of all, it will just be a very plain wooden cross, a wooden cross, plastered on the front of the pulpit.

27:59 - 28:15 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second mark is explored, defining 'glory' or 'boast' using Jeremiah 9:23. Martin explains that true believers find their minds filled with, hearts exalting in, and lips…

He illustrates what it means to 'glory in wisdom' by describing a smart man who constantly thinks about his knowledge, feels inward delight, and seizes opportunities to display his intelligence using complex vocabulary.

Don't let the wise man glory in his wisdom. Now here's a man who's smart and he knows it. Now if he's going to glory, or boast in his wisdom, what does he do? Well, he constantly fills his mind with how much he knows and how much he holds in his mind.

31:23 - 31:41 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second mark is explored, defining 'glory' or 'boast' using Jeremiah 9:23. Martin explains that true believers find their minds filled with, hearts exalting in, and lips…

He illustrates what it means to 'glory in might' by describing a muscular man who constantly thinks about his physique, delights in his strength, checks his reflection, measures his biceps, and brags about his performance.

Then he says, and let not the mighty man glory in his might. There's that fellow on the street that's been pumped in iron and he knows he looks pretty good and he's got a little ripple now under his shirt so he wears T-shirts three sizes too small so everyone can see the ripples. When he walks down the street, well, what's he doing? He's glorying in his might.

32:28 - 32:49 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second mark is explored, defining 'glory' or 'boast' using Jeremiah 9:23. Martin explains that true believers find their minds filled with, hearts exalting in, and lips…

He uses the anecdote of a man looking at his reflection in a store window at Willowbrook Mall to vividly portray someone glorying in their physical might.

His mind is constantly filled with the thoughts of his ripples. Every time he gets a chance, people think he's out just window shopping, but he's really just looking at his own reflection in the window as he walks by down the Willowbrook Mall and he says, he flexes his triceps and, you know, of course, none of you ever did that, but you've seen people doing that. And then he has a great sense of inward delight and he may even occasionally sneak out his mom's tape measure and see that his bicep is gone from 12 to 12 1⁄2 inches and a long way to go before he's Mr. America, but that's progress.

32:49 - 33:24 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine the deepest recesses of your heart: What is the fundamental object of your boasting or glorying?

Martin uses the metaphor of 'delicate spiritual surgery' to describe laying bare the deepest pulse beat of one's heart to reveal what they truly glory in.

Now let me ask you as you sit here this morning, is this a distinguishing mark of your life? If I could, by some kind of delicate spiritual surgery,

36:17 - 36:29 Read in full sermon

The point: Realize that even a good heritage and upbringing must be counted as refuse when seeking acceptance with God.

He uses the metaphor of 'having the rug pulled out from underneath you' to describe the painful experience of Holy Ghost conviction, where everything previously trusted for salvation is revealed as worthless.

But I do have biblical grounds to say if you haven't been brought there you aren't there. And if you've been brought there you'll know it. It's never a pleasant thing to have the rug pulled out from underneath you. Everything on which you stood you weren't as bad as other people.

44:46 - 45:04 Read in full sermon

The point: Honestly ask yourself: Have you seen yourself in Philippians 3:3 this morning? Do you bear these distinguishing marks?

Martin uses the analogy of finding oneself in a group picture to illustrate the process of self-awareness and recognizing one's own distinguishing characteristics, applying it to recognizing oneself in the spiritual marks of Philippians 3:3.

We are the circumcision we are God's true covenant people who worship by the spirit of God who glory in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Whenever there's a group picture you know what we all do the moment we see it if we were in that group picture the first thing we do is we try to find our own face and how do we recognize ourselves because we have enough self-awareness self-awareness self-awareness to know what are our own individual distinguishing characteristics. Right? There's a group picture you say where am I?

47:56 - 48:38 Read in full sermon