Soul Destroying Danger of Neglect/Hardness of Heart

Driving home: These two sins can only be committed by those who are exposed to the God-appointed means of saving grace. Only such as are exposed to the means of saving grace can be guilty of the sin of neglecting salvation and hardeni…

The human heart is described as a cesspool with the pressure of an artesian well, illustrating the inherent sinfulness and internal source of evil in all people.

Fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, covetings, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, railing, pride, foolishness, all these evil things proceed from within and defile the man. These are sins that are in the heart of all of us by nature. Every human heart is like a cesspool that has the pressure of an artesian well. That's what your heart is.

13:16 - 13:49 Read in full sermon

Driving home: He says we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that we heard lest we just are carried along by them and never are anchored to them or brought into rest in the privileges held up in the gospel.

The Greek word for 'drift away' is illustrated by a river flowing out of its channel, something slipping from memory, a ring slipping from a finger, and a ship drifting from its mooring, to explain the passive, unintentional nature of spiritual drifting.

And here I quote from Reinecker and Rogers who have a very helpful summary of these various ways. The word was used to describe a river that flows by a place or flows aside from its normal channel in the sense of flooding or escaping its channel. When it escapes its ordinary channel it has drifted beyond its normal course. Again this word was used of something slipping from one's memory.

22:15 - 22:46 Read in full sermon

Driving home: He says we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that we heard lest we just are carried along by them and never are anchored to them or brought into rest in the privileges held up in the gospel.

A man neglecting his wife (not beating or starving her, but being insensitive to her needs) illustrates the benign yet damaging nature of 'neglecting' salvation.

What is neglecting something? It's just failure to pay close attention to something. When a man neglects his wife what does he do? Doesn't mean he beats her.

25:56 - 26:07 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin distinguishes between sins common to all humanity (e.g., those from Mark 7 and Galatians 5) and sins unique to those exposed to the means of grace. He expounds Hebrews…

Jesus' parable of the wedding feast (Matthew 22) is used as the most vivid illustration of neglecting an invitation, showing how people can make light of a great offer without outright denying it.

And this is the very word used in precisely the same construction. It's a participle of exactly the same construction in Matthew chapter 22. It's the most vivid illustration of what it means to neglect. In Matthew 22 Jesus gives the parable of a wedding feast.

26:37 - 26:57 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Using the vivid analogy of calluses on his hands from construction work, Martin illustrates how repeated exposure to the gospel without a faith response leads to a spiritual…

Martin's personal story of developing calluses on his hands from construction work, to the point of being able to stick a needle through them without pain or blood, illustrates how repeated exposure to the gospel without a response can lead to a hardened, insensitive heart.

When I was a boy many years ago, a young man, I worked summers as a laborer for non-union construction man. He was a plasterer and a mason and so all day long my hands were handling rough concrete block in the building trades. You don't say blocks, you say block. If you stay around the construction man, pick up the blocks, he'll know you don't know anything about his block.

61:30 - 61:54 Read in full sermon