Efficaciousness of Christ's Sacrifice

In this part of the sermon: Martin defines 'efficacious' as attaining the desired or intended result, using common analogies like spanking a child, car repair, and taking medicine to illustrate the concept…

An analogy of a parent spanking a child who runs into the road, where the spanking is 'efficacious' if the child learns the lesson and stops the behavior, illustrating the concept of attaining a desired result.

Now I'm going to define what I mean by efficacious, and I've chosen the word purposefully because it sets forth in a beautiful way the truth of the Word of God. When something's efficacious, we mean that it attains the desired or intended result. My child runs out into the road, and I say, now, son or daughter, I don't want you to run into the road. You may get hurt.

6:19 - 6:48 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin defines 'efficacious' as attaining the desired or intended result, using common analogies like spanking a child, car repair, and taking medicine to illustrate the concept…

An analogy of using 'stop leak' in a car radiator, which is 'efficacious' if it successfully stops the leak, further clarifying the meaning of attaining a desired result.

It has attained the desired result. I spank the child in order that the child may learn the lesson and not destroy itself. You go home outside today, and you crank up your car, and you've gone halfway down Mountain Avenue, and you see the needle there in the temperature thing going all the way over. The car is boiling over.

6:57 - 7:15 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin defines 'efficacious' as attaining the desired or intended result, using common analogies like spanking a child, car repair, and taking medicine to illustrate the concept…

An analogy of taking aspirin for a headache, which is 'efficacious' if it relieves the pain, reinforcing the definition of attaining a desired result.

Well, the material, the chemical you put in there to stop the leak has been efficacious. It has attained the desired result. Or you may go home today, and you've got a splitting headache, so you take a couple Emprim or aspirin, and in a half an hour, you feel better. The medicine has been what?

7:26 - 7:43 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin argues that the cross cannot be understood in isolation but must be viewed in the light of God's eternal plan. He uses illustrations of surgery and parental discipline to…

An analogy of observing drastic surgery (lung cancer removal) in isolation versus understanding it within the surgeon's purpose and the patient's need. This illustrates how viewing the cross in isolation leads to misunderstanding, while viewing it in context reveals its merciful purpose.

cross simply by picking up the story as we find it in the Gospels from that point where he groaned in Gethsemane and bowed his head in death upon Calvary. You'll never understand the cross. To walk into an operating room having never seen drastic surgery, having never heard of it before, and to watch the surgeon. You know nothing else of the patient.

12:13 - 12:36 Read in full sermon

The point: Think about whether you have ever viewed the cross as part of the whole eternal plan of God.

An analogy of a parent disciplining a child, which appears brutal in isolation but is an act of mercy when understood in the context of the parent's love and purpose to teach obedience and adjustment. This further illustrates the need to view the cross within God's overarching plan.

view that act, not in isolation, but in reference to what preceded and followed and the overall plan and purpose of the surgeon, then it begins to make sense. You see, if you were to come and see me right at the point where I've pulled down the trousers of one of my children and whopping their bottom good, and I don't do it just enough to make them think this is something maybe you ought to avoid once in a while. I try to do it in such a way that they realize this ought to be avoided at all costs under all circumstances in the future. In other words, you've got to put some meaning in it. Now, ...

13:49 - 14:26 Read in full sermon

Driving home: What joy could there be in a death that possibly would not save anyone? What joy?

An analogy of a woman's travail in childbirth and the impossibility of her being satisfied if she brought forth a stillborn child. This powerfully illustrates that Christ's 'travail of soul' must result in actual salvation for Him to be satisfied.

travail of his soul and be satisfied. Some of you have gone through the travail of physical birth. Can you possibly imagine a woman who's carried that child next to her heart for all of those months and going down into the travail of birth and bringing forth a stillborn child and rejoicing?

37:20 - 37:42 Read in full sermon