The Christian's Hope

Driving home: In heaven and so we have first of all then the Christians homeland designated and it is nothing other than heaven but then he launches into what I am calling the Christians hope described and in this description of the C…

Martin quotes Hendrickson to explain how Philippians, as Roman colonists, would understand the concept of having a homeland (Rome) distinct from their current dwelling, making the concept of heavenly citizenship relatable.

And so they understood the concept of being foreigners who were in a land of Rome. And so they understood the concept of being foreigners who were in a land that was not their homeland they understood what it was to be citizens of another realm and Hendrickson commenting on this very fact writes very perceptively and I want to read just a paragraph do citizens of Philippi think of Rome as their native land to which they belong in whose tribal records they are enrolled whose dress they wear whose language they speak by whose whose laws they are governed whose protection they enjoy and whose emp...

9:33 - 10:52 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second major idea is the Christian's hope, which focuses on an eagerly awaited person: the Lord Jesus Christ. Martin emphasizes the word 'wait' as active longing and describes…

This example illustrates the meaning of 'eagerly awaited' by describing crowds waiting with full attention and great desire for the arrival of a significant person, like a rock star or political figure.

Person look at the text from which place all see wait not for this blessing or that blessing or this commodity or that commodity we wait for a person and so the focus of the believers hope is nothing less than this eagerly awaited and longed for person now this. Word we wait is a word which means to wait with full attention with perseverance and with great desire it's the word used three times in Romans eight with respect to the eager awaiting of the redemption of our bodies it's the kind of thing we often see if we watch any kind of a newscast in which we are given a clip of what happened whe...

15:05 - 16:08 Read in full sermon

Driving home: This will be done literally according to by the measure of what? By the measure of the working whereby he is able even to subdue all created reality to himself. In other words, there is cosmic omnipotence committed to br…

This analogy illustrates Christ's cosmic omnipotence. If a famous mountain climber can conquer the highest peaks, it would be insulting to question his ability to climb a small hill, just as it's foolish to doubt Christ's power to resurrect bodies given His power over all creation.

So that's why a Christian is not shaken when someone comes up with his story about the body to the lions or his body to the sharks. Let me illustrate it this way. Suppose we had in our congregation this morning a famous mountain climber. The most famous mountain climber alive today.

32:16 - 32:35 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin addresses objections to the resurrection of the body by emphasizing the cosmic omnipotence of Christ, who is able to subdue all created reality to Himself. He uses an…

Martin uses his personal scar to illustrate the concept of continuity despite bodily change. Though his body cells have completely replaced themselves, the scar remains, demonstrating a mysterious continuity that parallels the resurrection of the body.

It's by His power that the entire universe is governed. And for Him to do something which will result in continuity between this body of humiliation, long after its disintegration and the absorption of the cells that then were into a thousand other things, that is no stumbling block to a man of faith. I know standing here today, I'm told, and I take it in faith because they seem to know what they're talking about, that I don't have in this body right now one cell that was present even ten years ago. They've all been replaced.

34:50 - 35:28 Read in full sermon