That Which We Receive from God

The point: Receive blessings from God actively by faith, not passively, engaging your whole being.

Martin uses the analogy of passive wax receiving the impress of an imperial seal to contrast with the active, faith-filled reception of blessings from God in worship, emphasizing that believers are not passive recipients.

So the order is of crucial importance. And unless we discipline our minds and hearts into the giving mentality, the bringing mentality, we shall know very little of what it is to receive largely from God. So there is significance in the order. And then in the second place, by way of introduction, I want to say a word about what I mean in the word receiving. It is a spiritual activity to receive blessings from God. The receiving that is to go on in the context of public worship is not a spiritual activity. It is a spiritual activity. It is not like the receiving of a passive piece of wax which ...

7:07 - 8:05 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The highest reaches of Christian joy come when the child of God can enjoy conscious communion with God. In thy presence is fullness of joy.

He uses the metaphor of opening one's mouth wide (from Psalm 81:10) to illustrate that the degree to which we expect and anticipate God's presence is the degree to which He will fill us with joy and blessing.

We established this morning that in bringing spiritual sacrifices to God, the first thing that we ought to bring is that joyful expectancy of his presence. Well, if we bring to God the joyful expectation of his presence, we should expect to receive from God the joy of his presence, and that joy will provide us with the joy of his life. And we should reality of His presence. And that is precisely what the expectant heart receives. Coming with that glorious and wonderful expectation that my blessed Lord has pledged Himself to be present, what does such a one receive? Why, he receives what he exp...

12:53 - 13:55 Read in full sermon

The point: In the closet on Sunday morning, think upon the sins of the past week, examining them in the light of the law and gospel, to prepare the sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart.

Martin uses the hymn 'No, not despairingly come I to thee' as an example of how, when a broken and contrite heart is brought to such a hymn, the Holy Spirit seals gospel truths to the heart, leading to a profound sense of forgiving mercy.

He will do that when those who lead us in prayer frame the language of acknowledging our sin and yet at the same time acknowledging the wonder of His forgiveness God will give us, as it were, the fresh embrace of forgiving mercy when we sing hymns such as we sang tonight No, not despairingly come I to thee No, not distrustingly bend I the knee Sin hath gone over me Yet is this still my plea Jesus is not And you see, if you bring a broken and a contrite heart to a hymn like that the Holy Ghost will take those gospel truths embodied in the words of the Lord and He will give us the grace and the ...

23:50 - 25:19 Read in full sermon

The point: In the closet on Sunday morning, think upon the sins of the past week, examining them in the light of the law and gospel, to prepare the sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart.

The story of Billy Bray, an eccentric but joyful converted miner, illustrates the overwhelming thrill and awe of divine forgiveness that can lead to dancing for joy, stemming from a constant awareness of one's sinfulness and redemption.

covers sin from the sight of God I wouldn't be surprised to have somebody jump out of that water and dance a jig up the stairs shouting glory.

25:19 - 25:29 Read in full sermon

The point: Get rid of the mentality that corporate prayer for missionaries and kings is just a routine, and come prepared to believe that God hears and acts upon your prayers.

Martin describes the bread and cup of the Lord's Supper as Christ's physical arms and mouth, through which He gives the special embrace of reconciling love to believing sinners, making the spiritual reality tangible.

what will God do not only in the world in the words that are prayed not only in the hymns and psalms that are sung but in that ordinance of baptism the Lord will remind us that he has washed us and then in that wonderful supper of remembrance and I was meditating upon this this morning you see it's as though the Lord having gone back to heaven he no longer has physical arms to embrace us he no longer has a physical mouth to plant the kiss of forgiveness and reconciliation upon our cheeks may I say it reverently this table with its bread and its cup are his arms and his mouth and he comes to us...

27:01 - 28:28 Read in full sermon

The point: Get rid of the mentality that corporate prayer for missionaries and kings is just a routine, and come prepared to believe that God hears and acts upon your prayers.

He contrasts the indifference of Washington (the government) to a 'motley bunch' of worshipers with the God who is Lord over the Senate, using it to emphasize that God hears and acts upon the prayers of His people, even for kings and rulers.

the blood shed upon that cross and the Savior who shed that blood has become my life and I'm a believer in him and I'm a believer in him and I feed upon him and he comes and as it were gives me the special embrace of reconciling love here at his table oh if we understand that we come with the broken heart what embraces of reconciling love would be our portion when we come to his table well I must hurry on as there isn't much voice left as well as time do we come with the sacrifice of our prayers our supplications and intercession do we come with a believing heart according to 1st Timothy 2 and...

28:28 - 29:55 Read in full sermon

The point: Get rid of the mentality that corporate prayer for missionaries and kings is just a routine, and come prepared to believe that God hears and acts upon your prayers.

The imagery of vials full of odors being the prayers of the saints in the book of Revelation is used to illustrate that the prayers of God's people are at the center of His mighty workings and dispositions in history.

knock and it shall be opened unto you if God would give us as it were just a little bit of a picture of how much of his own mighty working takes into consideration the prayers of his people I doubt we'd ever be the same again you do have a little picture in the book of the revelation here we have in that majesty of symbolic vision and language of the Lord the vials the seals being opened and the vials of God's judgment being poured out and in the midst of all of that what do you have you have vials full of odors which are the prayers of the saints and God is saying in the great sweeping moveme...

31:23 - 32:51 Read in full sermon