During the Sermon, Part 6

Driving home: Unbelief, therefore, is not some kind of spiritual illness to be pitied. It is moral and spiritual perversity and wickedness. Men will be damned. Damned for unbelief.

Contrasting examples from Luke 1 where Mary immediately believed the angel Gabriel's word about bearing the Messiah, while Zacharias doubted and was chastised, illustrating the importance of faith.

Our key text was Hebrews 4, 2. The Word preached did not profit them not being mixed with faith. And then we illustrated from two contrasting examples in Luke chapter 1, Mary who gave an immediate response of faith to the Word of the Lord through the angel Gabriel that she would become the mother of Messiah. And then Zacharias who had a word from that same angel, but who doubted that word and was chastised for his doubts. And I could not help but think in my preparation and in my preparing of the review of that beautiful example of this principle in Acts chapter 27, and I simply quote the text...

4:55 - 6:20 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Unbelief, therefore, is not some kind of spiritual illness to be pitied. It is moral and spiritual perversity and wickedness. Men will be damned. Damned for unbelief.

Paul's response in Acts 27, believing God's promise of safety during a shipwreck despite all hope being abandoned, serves as a powerful illustration of immediate, unwavering faith in God's word.

Our key text was Hebrews 4, 2. The Word preached did not profit them not being mixed with faith. And then we illustrated from two contrasting examples in Luke chapter 1, Mary who gave an immediate response of faith to the Word of the Lord through the angel Gabriel that she would become the mother of Messiah. And then Zacharias who had a word from that same angel, but who doubted that word and was chastised for his doubts. And I could not help but think in my preparation and in my preparing of the review of that beautiful example of this principle in Acts chapter 27, and I simply quote the text...

4:55 - 6:20 Read in full sermon

The point: When confronted with a word from God asserting or demonstrating impenetrable mystery, respond with immediate chastened silence and reverent praise.

Martin critiques the modern tendency to trivialize profound truths into short slogans or bumper stickers, arguing that God's mysteries cannot be reduced to such simplicity.

don't believe. Oh, fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have written. Oh, unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? May God help us that under the preaching of the word, every announcement of a divine provision, every setting forth of a divine promise, every articulation of a divine prophecy may be met by the spirit of faith in each of our hearts. Now we come thirdly and finally this morning in this matter of taking heed how we hear under the preaching of the word to address a third and crucial example of how we should respond. And I'm expressing it...

7:35 - 8:58 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The implication is that just as the heavens are so high above the earth, that by human standards their height cannot be measured, so are God's ways and thoughts so above those of man that they cannot be grasped by man in…

The imagery from Isaiah 55:9, comparing God's ways and thoughts to the heavens being higher than the earth, is used to convey their immeasurable transcendence and incomprehensibility to humans.

In what way are his thoughts unlike ours, and his ways unlike ours? Well, they are unlike ours, and here's the imagery, as the heavens are higher than the earth. They transcend and are above the earth. And it is this very nuance that E.J. Young, in his masterful commentary in Isaiah, highlights when commenting on this very verse.

13:38 - 14:05 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He turns to Romans 9, where Paul grapples with the mystery of God's sovereign election and hardening, illustrating that God's purposes are not frustrated and His mercy is freely…

Paul's deep sorrow and unceasing pain for his kinsmen, the Israelites, who were in unbelief, is presented as the context for his exploration of God's sovereign purpose in Romans 9-11.

God will not accommodate himself to such nonsense with respect to the sacred issues of his being, of his ways, and of his works. What do I mean by responding, before those mysteries with chastened silence and reverent praise? Well, those of you familiar with the structure of the book of Romans will remember that after expounding the heart and soul of the gospel of the grace of God, the apostle turns in chapters 9 through 11 to deal with this whole question of the dispensation of that gospel, in the sovereign purpose of God with respect to the nation of Israel and to the nations of the earth. A...

15:58 - 17:16 Read in full sermon

Driving home: I'm under no obligation to show compassion to any of the fallen, hell-deserving sons of men. If I will to show mercy upon one or ten or a thousand or an innumerable company, my mercy is in submission to my will.

Martin uses the metaphor of no one having God 'on a hammerlock' to illustrate that God is under no obligation to show mercy to all, and His mercy is freely given according to His sovereign will.

He said to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion, on whom I have compassion. I'm under no obligation to show compassion to any of the fallen, hell-deserving sons of men. If I will to show mercy upon one or ten or a thousand or an innumerable company, my mercy is in submission to my will.

19:45 - 20:11 Read in full sermon