Life or Death - Your Choice

In this part of the sermon: Martin introduces Romans 6:23 as the twelfth 'Simple Signpost to the Celestial City,' describing it as a unique signpost with two arrow-shaped boards pointing to contrasting…

The entire sermon is framed around the analogy of Romans 6:23 as a signpost with two arrow-shaped boards pointing to contrasting destinations: death and eternal life. This imagery helps visualize the clear choice presented in the text.

We come again this evening to examine a specific text in the Word of God which very clearly and in a very comprehensive yet succinct way points us to the way of life and salvation. This is the twelfth such text that we have considered as part of a series that I have entitled Simple Signposts to the Celestial City. Now I announced in the morning service that this signpost would be taken from chapter 6 in the book of Romans. For our simple signpost this night is found in the words of Romans 6. Romans 6 and verse 23, for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Chris...

0:00 - 1:20 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not be swayed by so-called evangelical preachers who try to change the signpost by denying eternal conscious punishment.

Martin warns against modern evangelical preachers who try to 'change that signpost' by adding parentheses to 'death' to deny eternal conscious punishment, illustrating how false teaching distorts the clear message of the Bible.

Every single one of us is headed to death or eternal life. This signpost means not by remembering what a preacher said when he sought to expounce 23, but in our own what the death is. Thank God some of you will know what the eternal life is. And if you are at all able to remember anything any preacher ever said in attempting to open up any passage of any Scripture, you will have said a thousand times over like the Queen of Sheba when she saw the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. of Solomon's empire and Solomon's gold and Solomon's possessions and Solomon's Kin...

20:50 - 22:14 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not be swayed by so-called evangelical preachers who try to change the signpost by denying eternal conscious punishment.

Jesus' role as judge on the final day is likened to a shepherd separating sheep from goats, illustrating the clear and public disclosure of judgment and the separation into eternal punishment or eternal life.

at the end of Matthew chapter 25 and here I ask you to turn to it with me again to get it through the eye gate as well as the Ear gate our Lord Jesus has cut the boards with the pointed arrows, Notice this has been demanded that if there was no other text in the Bible as for eternalilation His Lord Jesus has cut the boards as forever settled the issue if there were no other text in all of the Bible is describing the final day of judgment and he likens his own role as a judge to that of a shepherd separating sheep from goats. He speaks to those on the right hand and those on the left. And after...

23:42 - 24:59 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin shifts to the contrasting bases for these destinations: death is earned as 'wages of sin,' while eternal life is received as the 'free gift of God,' highlighting the…

Sin is personified as a 'great paymaster' who will pay out 'wages' (death) to all who have served him, emphasizing the certainty of judgment for those in sin's employment.

The wages of sin is death. Here, sin is likened to a great paymaster who will pay out what is earned, to all who have served him. And if you have entered and remained in the service of sin, payday will surely come someday. Do you hear me?

28:18 - 28:47 Read in full sermon

The point: Tell yourself, the next time sin's propositions are real and your desires are stirred, that the wages are death, and payday will come someday.

Sin is depicted as bickering with someone about wages, promising pleasure but not revealing the 'fine print' of eternal damnation, illustrating the deceitful nature of sin's allurements.

When you sit down to bicker with sin about what he will give you if you will serve him, sin says, I'll give you pleasure.

29:45 - 29:55 Read in full sermon

The point: Tell yourself, the next time sin's propositions are real and your desires are stirred, that the wages are death, and payday will come someday.

The example of Moses choosing affliction with God's people over the 'pleasure of sin for a season' is used to show that sin does offer temporary pleasure, which serves as its deceptive 'hook'.

And he's not lying, for there is pleasure in sin for a season. Were there no pleasure in sin, there would be no hook, no bait in which to have the hook of death embedded and to entice us into sin. No, it says of Moses, he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season. But you see, his wages are deceitful, for though he promises pleasure,

29:57 - 30:33 Read in full sermon

Driving home: And grace is not just getting something I haven't earned. It's getting the exact opposite of what I deserve.

Martin critiques the AA concept of God as 'whatever you want to conceive him to be,' contrasting it with Paul's specific, majestic, and wrathful God, to highlight the true identity of the Giver of the free gift.

And when the Apostle Paul uses the little word God, a four-letter Greek word for him, a three-letter word for us, in English. For Paul, that word does not symbolize anything you want to make him. As in the nonsense of AA and other support groups, you've got to trust in some power, whatever you want to conceive him to be. So you could conceivably go out in your backyard and call the spring flowers God, so long as you trusted in them and not in yourself to get over your problems.

38:17 - 38:56 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not mistake shallow religious experiences or a vague belief in Jesus for the true gospel; a comprehensive understanding of Christ's person and work is necessary.

Martin recounts a story of witnessing to a man who claimed to be a Christian because he believed Jesus was 'for good,' illustrating the shallow and inadequate understanding of Christ prevalent in pseudo-Christianity.

If all you know of Jesus is what that poor guy that I met years ago started witnessing to him. I asked him if he were a Christian. He said, yeah, I'm a Christian. I said, well, how do you know if you're a Christian?

49:41 - 49:55 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not let natural pride prevent you from embracing a salvation where every last jewel in the crown is on the head of the Savior.

The proud human heart is depicted as wanting to keep a 'little 100 carat diamond' of self-boasting, even in salvation, illustrating the resistance to a salvation that is 'all of grace' and gives all glory to the Savior.

I will then have to say, all I brought, everything else has been all of grace. And therefore, the natively proud human heart says, no, I will not have a salvation in which every last jewel in the crown is on the head of the Savior. I want to keep at least a little 100 carat diamond in my pocket, that at least I can rub once in a while and say I did a little something. No, no, my friend, you'll go to hell rubbing your little diamond.

55:18 - 56:01 Read in full sermon

The point: For those who have embraced the gift of God, do not keep silent about the glories of the gospel, but speak forth this glorious message with boldness.

Martin closes by quoting a children's hymn by Isaac Watts, which beautifully summarizes the contrasting destinies of heaven and hell and the child's prayer for grace to escape eternal death, reinforcing the sermon's core message.

ascend then I for grace will pray while I have life and breath lest I should be cut off today and sent to eternal death remember last week's signpost behold now is the day of salvation behold now is the acceptable time and for you who by the grace of god can sit here and pray for me and say blessed be god that I sit as one who has embraced the gift of god that gift of eternal life in union with Jesus Christ the lord surely brethren as in these times we've been concentrating on the glories of the gospel we need to say with those beggars who came upon all the spoils of the defeated assyrian army...

65:25 - 66:43 Read in full sermon