After the Sermon Part 5

Driving home: If the heart engaged the word of God, we stand under the patent, constantly, with the condemnation of the living God.

Martin describes a hypothetical scenario where a preacher's congregation talks about his sermons all week and fills the pews, only to reveal that God's people in Ezekiel's day did this but did not obey, showing that hearing without doing is condemned by God.

Well, what more could you ask? What more could any preacher ask for than to know that throughout the week, amongst all the houses of all his people, the topic of conversation was going to hear the preacher the next Lord's Day. That would be heady stuff. That would be heady stuff for most preachers, wouldn't it?

5:28 - 5:45 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Why do you use in your reference to me language that bespeaks a recognition of the dignity of my person and the rights of my government when the pattern of your life negates the profession of your lips?

Jesus' analogy of building a house on rock versus sand is used to illustrate the difference between those who hear and obey His words (wise) and those who hear but do not obey (foolish), with the trials of life and judgment revealing the true foundation.

Come unto me, and hear my words, and be doing them. I will show you to whom He is like. I will show you to whom He is like. He is like a man building a house, who digged and went deep, and laid a foundation upon the rock.

8:59 - 9:17 Read in full sermon

The point: Engage in renewed acts of repentance and put away all filthiness and wickedness in preparation for receiving the implanted word.

Martin uses a humorous personal anecdote of claiming to be the heir to the British throne to illustrate self-delusion, directly comparing it to the self-delusion of being a hearer of the word only and not a doer.

and yourselves. And then he goes on to illustrate, and to enforce that directive, in terms of a common illustration, of a man looking into a mirror, and beholding his countenance, et cetera. But I want us to focus upon verse 22, which comes in a form, that unmistakably lays before us, the positive command, to be implementers of the word, that we have received, with meekness in a prepared heart. And the first thing we note in the text, is that it is possible, it is perfectly possible, to be a hearer only, and not a doer, and in so doing, to make myself, a deluded person. I can engage in activit...

18:27 - 19:55 Read in full sermon

The point: When you see the discrepancy between God's ways and your ways, make haste and delay not to observe God's commandments.

The psalmist's reflection on his ways and immediate turning to God's testimonies in Psalm 119:59-60 illustrates the prompt and decisive nature of true implementation, without delay.

Psalm 119. This wonderful passage, dealing with various aspects, of the believers relationship, to the word and law of God. Look at verses 59 and 60. I thought, on my ways, and turned my feet, unto thy testimonies.

22:07 - 22:31 Read in full sermon