Believe on the Lord Jesus

The point: Press home to the hearts of men and women and boys and girls in this place the claims of Christ and the marvelous provisions of the Gospel.

Martin uses John Bunyan's 'The Pilgrim's Progress' and the term 'Celestial City' as a synonym for Heaven, setting the overarching theme for the sermon series on Gospel signposts.

As Pastor Jeff has already indicated, we will, God helping us, consider another text in the Word of God under the general heading of a simple signpost to the Celestial City. For those who may be with us for the first time in this brief series, the terminology Celestial City is taken from John Bunyan's immortal work, The Pilgrim's Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come. And those of you familiar with that marvelous account of the progress of a man from the city of destruction until his final, final arrival in the presence of God in that which the Bible calls Heaven, will know that Bu...

0:00 - 1:18 Read in full sermon

Driving home: And they help us to understand more precisely and accurately the intention of the Word of the living God through Paul and Silas when they declared to this needy man, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, or believe on the Lo…

Martin uses the image of Paul not simply crying out 'Believe on the Lord Jesus' with a megaphone in a vacuum to emphasize that the words to the jailer arose from specific, significant circumstances.

Now, as we seek to pay close attention to this simple signpost to the Celestial City, I want you to notice with me, first of all, the circumstances which produced this signpost. The words, Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved, are words which are, true, spoken at any time, in any place, in any set of circumstances, to any sinner, except sinners already in hell, and those abandoned by God. However, these words were not spoken in a vacuum. The Apostle Paul did not get up one morning, stick a megaphone out of his window, and begin to cry at the top of his voice. The Apostle Paul did ...

2:24 - 3:20 Read in full sermon

The point: Rejoice and to be exceedingly glad when we are persecuted for His name's sake.

Martin contrasts the typical behavior of criminals (curses, recriminations) with Paul and Silas's prayers and hymns, highlighting their radical difference and the manifestation of God's grace.

a perpetrator of ungracious, unkind treatment upon them and cannot help but see this manifestation of the grace of God in the way they responded. No doubt many other criminals had been put in stocks and cast in prison by this jailer and had done so amidst their curses and amidst their foul recriminations against the jailer in the Roman government and against whoever was responsible for their incarceration. But these men were utterly and radically different from any other prisoners. he had ever handled before.

11:04 - 11:44 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The sermon continues by describing the display of divine power in the jail itself, specifically the earthquake that shook the foundations, opened all doors, and loosed all…

Martin describes the moral miracle of incarcerated criminals, whose bonds are loosed and doors open, choosing not to escape, illustrating God's restraining power in the moral realm.

The doors, we read, are all open. And when criminals, bad enough to be incarcerated and held securely, maximum security with additional bands, see their bands off and doors open and don't move, that is a moral miracle. It was God restraining them from doing what comes naturally to criminals who may plot for days and months and years, how to escape from such a place. Now they could walk out and yet Paul says, we are all here.

14:41 - 15:22 Read in full sermon

Driving home: That's a hardened man. Men like that don't tremble easily. Men like that don't become leafy in their trembling over slight issues.

Martin contrasts the jailer's usual hardened demeanor (casting bloody men into prison, sleeping soundly) with his trembling fear, emphasizing the profound impact of God's power and his felt need.

For here, here's a man who can see human beings bloody and bruised and cast them into prison, swap their feet in stocks and walk away and spit out of the corner of his mouth and go to sleep. That's a hardened man. Men like that don't tremble easily. Men like that don't become leafy in their trembling over slight issues.

17:27 - 17:59 Read in full sermon

Driving home: That's a hardened man. Men like that don't tremble easily. Men like that don't become leafy in their trembling over slight issues.

Martin imagines the jailer's past dismissive attitude towards 'the way of salvation,' preferring 'drink and broads and bodies to bully,' to highlight the radical change in his felt need.

I've got drink and broads and bodies to bully.

19:27 - 19:33 Read in full sermon

The point: May we never get so sophisticated that we are embarrassed to say, I'm saved. I'm saved.

Martin uses the analogy of not wanting to meet a 'cop like that' (referring to the jailer's former harshness) in one's sins, to illustrate the fear of meeting God in one's unrighteousness and the need for salvation.

And yet you're praising the God who's allowed you to be unjustly beaten up and thrown into prison and cruelly treated at my hands saved from the posh a to jail inmates. I don't want to meet a cop like that. In my sins. I don't want to meet a cop like that in all the nakedness and the fileness and filthiness of my unclean soul.

34:32 - 35:04 Read in full sermon

The point: May we never get so sophisticated that we are embarrassed to say, I'm saved. I'm saved.

Martin uses the metaphor of God shaking a jail and breaking physical bonds to illustrate God's power to break the chains of sin that bind the heart to habits and patterns.

the God who can shake a jail and make the bond can take the chains in that bind your heart and bind you to habits and patterns that have marked you for years. He opens the prison, how he saves mating influence of sin. Those that he said we are disinherited. According to Galatians,

36:14 - 37:24 Read in full sermon

The point: The weight of your soul upon Christ. Say in the words of the hymn writer, Hangs my helpless soul on Thee. Thou, O Christ, art all I want. And believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, this promise is to you in the Gospel. You …

Martin quotes a hymn to express the posture of a soul utterly dependent on Christ for salvation, reinforcing the meaning of 'believe on the Lord Jesus.'

The weight of your soul upon Christ. Say in the words of the hymn writer, Hangs my helpless soul on Thee. Thou, O Christ, art all I want. And believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, this promise is to you in the Gospel.

45:25 - 45:58 Read in full sermon