God's Sovereignty Over Eternity

The point: Express gratitude for the ministry of the word by lifting up your heart in prayer to God, rather than clapping.

A young man in ministry shared how a specific concept or series of tapes from Martin's ministry altered the whole direction of his work, illustrating the impact of faithful preaching.

I met a young man who's been in the ministry for some years now who pointed to a specific concept. And I'd like to thank him for his driving the journey. And I'd like to thank him for his three-day conference and series of ministries that God used to alter the whole direction of his ministry. And I do thank you for taking the time to come and to express your gratitude.

1:23 - 1:43 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin details the first two activities of the Sovereign: a universal convocation where all nations are gathered before Christ, followed by an infallible separation of sheep from…

Martin uses the analogy of goats learning to make sheep sounds or grow wool to look like sheep to illustrate that outward appearances cannot deceive the infallible Judge who knows true nature.

And the Lord knows those who are truly His. With an infallible knowledge He will mark out all of His sheep and set them upon His right hand. And all of the goats, those who may have learned by imitation to make the sounds of a sheep, and by some kind of alchemy may have even learned how to grow wool that looked like a sheep from a goat's hair. But in their nature they are goats.

21:20 - 21:52 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It is a solemn thing to have been created a human being. It is a solemn thing to have been created a human being with a indestructible existence that God thinks so much of that which He made in His image that though the …

The phrase 'It is a solemn thing to have been created a human being' emphasizes the unique, indestructible existence of humans, highlighting the gravity of their eternal destiny.

to the whales that ply the seas. As I have meditated in preparation for this message today, the words that have haunted me are these. It is a solemn thing to have been created a human being. It is a solemn thing to have been created a human being with a indestructible existence that God thinks so much of that which He made in His image that though the image has been marred in the fall, God, if I may say it reverently,

26:01 - 26:45 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The punishment of hell will be conscious, unending, non-terminated suffering. Would to God I never had to utter those words. But if I am to be true to my commission to preach the word, I can say nothing else.

Martin explains Jesus' imagery from Mark 9, contrasting the natural death of a worm or fire with the unending, conscious torment in hell, where soul, body, and conscience are eternally upheld.

It is the place where the worm never dies Why? When the worm has consumed the carcass on which it feeds and consumes the energy derived from it, the worm dies. It has no more food on which to feed. And when the fire has no more combustionable material to consume, it becomes embers and smoke and dies out.

39:04 - 39:30 Read in full sermon

Driving home: But there is no more deadly injury, no more wanton cruelty, which any man can perpetrate upon a fellow creature than that which the theological reformer is in danger of when, against the clearest, mere meaning of God's W…

Martin quotes A.A. Hodges to condemn 'mock charity' that softens or explains away the biblical doctrine of eternal punishment, arguing it is a deadly injury to sinners.

And in Revelation 14.10 we are told that the smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever and they have no rest day nor night. I can only say because he said it better than I in the words of A.A. Hodges.

40:43 - 41:03 Read in full sermon

Driving home: But blessed be God above all else, it will be the life of perfected, unbroken communion with God and with the Lamb.

Martin shares his personal experience of his body and soul often being out of sync (body strong, soul dull; soul yearning, body weak) to illustrate the glory of heaven where both will be perfectly glorified and aligned in service to God.

We will have bodies according to the apostle-fashioned rules. We will be like unto the body of his glory. And one of the things that excites me most about heaven is this. There are times when my body surges with energy and strength, but my soul is one clod of dullness and indifference to God.

46:40 - 47:01 Read in full sermon

Driving home: But blessed be God above all else, it will be the life of perfected, unbroken communion with God and with the Lamb.

Martin dismisses the common, unexciting image of heaven as 'sitting half-asleep, and drowsy-eyed on a clod plunked in a harp' to emphasize the true, active, and glorious nature of heavenly service.

This idea of sitting half-asleep, and drowsy-eyed on a clod plunked in a harp, that doesn't excite me.

47:43 - 47:49 Read in full sermon