Christ's Commands (Rev. 2:5)

Driving home: There is perhaps no more sensitive a plant in the garden of the heart of a Christian than the plant of devotion to Jesus Christ. It will wither when many other plants still thrive.

Devotion to Christ is likened to a sensitive plant in the garden of the heart, which withers easily, emphasizing its fragility and vital importance.

There is perhaps nothing more vital in the life of the child of God than his attachment to the person of Jesus Christ in faith and in love. There is perhaps no more sensitive a plant in the garden of the heart of a Christian than the plant of devotion to Jesus Christ. It will wither when many other plants still thrive.

0:01 - 0:33 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin expounds the first command, 'Remember from whence thou art fallen,' explaining it as a conscious mental activity of comparing one's current state with a past state of…

The act of taking and reviewing slides from a trip is used to illustrate how 'remembering' involves consciously recalling past experiences and facts, setting them before the mind's eye.

It's doing what a traveler will do. He takes slides of a place he's been. In the recent trip to Great Britain, I took about 80 slides. We'll show them at one of our family suppers, the Lord willing, in a month or two.

16:56 - 17:08 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not be too busy or 'slippery' for the duty of sober, sanctified reflection, as neglecting it puts one in a dangerous spiritual state.

The imperceptible onset of gray hairs is used to illustrate how spiritual decline, like physical aging, can happen so gradually that one doesn't notice it in oneself.

This process of declining in devotion to the person of Christ had come about so imperceptibly that there was no way to recognize it in themselves but to stop and say, hey, wait a minute, pull up the reins, stop working, stop being a busy beaver Christian long enough to go back to the slides of what you were a long time ago and bring up that picture. And as you set it before the eyes of the mind and compare where you are now with where you were then, he said, then you'll see what I see. Then you'll know what I know. Then you'll be gripped by what has gripped me. As growth is imperceptible in sh...

20:10 - 21:15 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not be too busy or 'slippery' for the duty of sober, sanctified reflection, as neglecting it puts one in a dangerous spiritual state.

Peter remembering Christ's words after the cock crowed and then weeping bitterly is given as an example of holy reflection leading to repentance.

May I say by way of application that this activity of holy reflection is most often the first step in the path to return? It says when Peter heard the cock crow, he what? Remembered the words of the Lord Jesus. And then he went out and wept.

21:44 - 22:05 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not be too busy or 'slippery' for the duty of sober, sanctified reflection, as neglecting it puts one in a dangerous spiritual state.

The prodigal son's rational reflection on his past and present state is cited as the first step toward repentance.

He wept bitterly. It is when the prodigal came to himself and began to think rationally of what things used to be and compared them with what they now were that the first steps to repentance were laid in his own heart or the first movements to repentance were born in his heart. We see then in God's dealings with us, even in the most intimate areas of personal devotion to Christ, we see the central place that the mind plays in the Christian life. It's only as the facts filter into the mind and the mind grasps them and the mind sorts them out and faces them that the affections and subsequently t...

22:06 - 23:30 Read in full sermon

The point: Face the painful facts of spiritual declension and grayness, rather than rationalizing or avoiding them.

A once-athletic man who has become out of shape but refuses to admit it is used to illustrate the difficulty and pain of facing one's own spiritual declension.

You just remember. You face the facts as I know them. That's painful, isn't it? Just like the man, and I've seen this with fellows who were once tremendous athletes in great shape.

25:28 - 25:40 Read in full sermon

The point: Face the painful facts of spiritual declension and grayness, rather than rationalizing or avoiding them.

A man trying to compensate for baldness rather than accepting it illustrates the human tendency to avoid facing facts of decline and decay.

You see, we don't like to face the facts of declensions. Like the fellow who's beginning to get bald and he can't really accept the fact that he is. So he tries to compensate by growing hair on his chin or his lip or down the back of his neck when he can't grow it up here anymore. We don't want to face the fact.

26:40 - 26:58 Read in full sermon

The point: If the Lord has found you in this study, remember, repent, and do the first works, lest you face the serious consequences of refusal.

Cowper's hymn, 'Where is once the blessedness I knew,' is quoted to show the progression from reflection to repentance and reformation, mirroring Christ's commands.

to the first works or there has been no genuine repentance in the heart and so we have in this pattern of our Lord the reflection which paves the way to repentance and then the repentance which issues in renewed obedience and you see those things brought out so beautifully in Cowper's hymn where he speaks some of you are familiar with that hymn where he speaks first of all where is once the blessedness I knew when first I knew the Lord where is that soul refreshing view of Jesus and his word he reflects he thinks back upon what he once knew then he moves on to holy resolve in the present and s...

40:11 - 41:39 Read in full sermon

The point: If the Lord has found you in this study, remember, repent, and do the first works, lest you face the serious consequences of refusal.

Spurgeon's comment about preaching truths primarily to his own heart is quoted to convey the personal weight and seriousness of the sermon's message for the preacher himself.

to the first works or there has been no genuine repentance in the heart and so we have in this pattern of our Lord the reflection which paves the way to repentance and then the repentance which issues in renewed obedience and you see those things brought out so beautifully in Cowper's hymn where he speaks some of you are familiar with that hymn where he speaks first of all where is once the blessedness I knew when first I knew the Lord where is that soul refreshing view of Jesus and his word he reflects he thinks back upon what he once knew then he moves on to holy resolve in the present and s...

40:11 - 41:39 Read in full sermon