Suffering for Christ and the Gift of The Spirit

Driving home: Saul of Tarsus thought his controversy was with the people of God. When in reality, the Lord Jesus tells him that his controversy was with the Lord of his people.

Martin shares his personal experience of his wife's 44-year battle with cancer to demonstrate his understanding of general suffering, contrasting it with the specific suffering for Christ that is the sermon's focus.

I stand before you as a man who lives with the reality of a wife of forty-four years fighting a battle with active cancer. Rather, we're going to consider more narrowly those aspects of suffering inflicted upon the people of God by those whose agitation is in reality not with God's people, but with their Savior and their Lord. Those afflictions that are described in the Book of Acts, chapter 8, in conjunction with Saul of Tarsus. Luke describes them in this language.

2:03 - 2:43 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Saul of Tarsus thought his controversy was with the people of God. When in reality, the Lord Jesus tells him that his controversy was with the Lord of his people.

Martin provides examples ranging from a condescending sneer from a professor, a forfeited promotion for a Christian executive, to the fangs of a lion in an arena, to illustrate the full spectrum of suffering for Christ.

Now that suffering comes in many forms. In its more subtle form, it may be that condescending sneer of the sharp Ph.D. professor who hears in the presence of his class of all places, a student who unashamedly acknowledges his or her confidence in absolute, the truth contained within the pages of special revelation that we call the Bible.

5:08 - 5:40 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Drawing from Luke 14:25-27 and the parables of the hidden treasure and pearl of great price, Martin argues that true union with Christ requires radical self-denial and…

Jesus' parable is used to illustrate that when the Kingdom of God is truly discovered, it becomes so valuable that a person joyfully sells everything else to possess it, signifying total commitment.

That's why Jesus could say in those kingdom parables, Matthew 13 and verse 44, wherever the kingdom of God is manifested in human hearts, it is like this. Here is words. The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid. And in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

24:59 - 25:29 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Drawing from Luke 14:25-27 and the parables of the hidden treasure and pearl of great price, Martin argues that true union with Christ requires radical self-denial and…

Jesus' parable is used to illustrate that a merchant seeking goodly pearls, upon finding the one perfect pearl, sells all his assets to acquire it, signifying that true faith leads to an all-consuming focus on Christ.

The kingdom of heaven is like such an instance, Jesus said. And then he said, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a merchant seeking goodly pearls. This is not the indifferent man walking by a field and no interest in it. And suddenly all his interest is focused upon it.

26:05 - 26:23 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin asserts that saving faith inherently involves repudiation of self and a willingness to die, as symbolized by taking up the cross. He challenges the audience to consider if…

The image of a man carrying a cross in the first century is used to convey utter rejection, loss of dignity, and the end of all personal plans, illustrating the radical self-denial required of a disciple.

or what I call evangelical icons marketed special kinds of crosses. You'd think of one thing. When you saw a cross, you saw a man who was utterly, thoroughly irreversibly rejected by society, stripped of every last vestige of human dignity, who had no plans of his own. He didn't say to his buddy with a cross on his back.

31:38 - 32:11 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin asserts that saving faith inherently involves repudiation of self and a willingness to die, as symbolized by taking up the cross. He challenges the audience to consider if…

Martin quotes A.W. Tozer's line, 'Hey, Henry, see tomorrow morning. We'll go fishing down by the lake,' to emphasize that a man carrying a cross has no future plans of his own, reinforcing the finality of self-denial.

Hey, Henry, see tomorrow morning. We'll go fishing down by the lake. That's a quote from old. Tozer.

32:11 - 32:18 Read in full sermon

The point: Evaluate preaching and ministry against the standard of Scripture, rather than adopting 'user-friendly' messages.

Peter's response to the accusation of drunkenness on the day of Pentecost is used to highlight his bold, uncompromising evangelism, contrasting it with 'user-friendly' messages.

And to the testimony. If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. Isaiah 8.20. And when Peter stands on the day of Pentecost with his point of contact being, he overhears people saying, these people are smashing drunk. That's why they're speaking in all of these dialects and languages that are not their native language. And Peter says, you got it all wrong, folks. Too early in the morning. It's only nine o'clock.

46:20 - 46:50 Read in full sermon