Genuine Christian Experience

The point: Test your assurance of election and future glorification not by seeking private revelation or abstract reasoning, but by examining whether you have present vital experiential union with Jesus Christ — the only ground fro…

Union with Christ is compared to a mighty chain forged by omnipotence. Election is the first anchoring link and glorification the final link — both out of sight on either side of eternity. The only visible link is present experiential union, and from it alone the believer may reason back to election and forward to glorification.

Only from the posture of present experiential union with Christ have you been elected in him will you be glorified with him only if presently you are vitally joined to him union with Christ is like a mighty chain forged by omnipotence one end is in this side of eternity if we may use that figure.

5:44 - 6:16 Read in full sermon

Driving home: because of what you became in your own present life history we reason back from the fruit of calling to the root of your calling and election

Paul's confidence in the Thessalonians' election (1 Thessalonians 1:4) is shown not to rest on a heavenly vision but on reasoning backward from observable fruit: 'the word came and ye became.' He also reasons forward to their final deliverance from wrath. Martin presents this as the biblical paradigm for how assurance of election and glorification is rightly grounded.

One that the apostle was convinced of the election of these people he says in verse four knowing brethren beloved of God your election how in the world did Paul come into this knowledge of their election when he was caught up in the third heavens and heard things not lawful to utter did God give him a peek into the role of his elect and show him the names of these Thessalonians.

7:16 - 7:47 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin narrows the entire burden of the study to one personal question: are you presently, vitally, savingly united to Jesus Christ? He introduces 2 Corinthians 5:17 as the text…

Martin describes the entire evening's argument as focusing like all the rays of the sun passing through a magnifying glass onto one point in a pile of hay — the single question of whether the listener is presently, vitally united to Jesus Christ. Every truth from Scripture converges on that point.

focal point of all the rays of truth from holy scripture and this is the focal point are you vitally savingly united to Jesus Christ for if there is not present vital life union with Christ where you sit tonight you have no grounds to believe that you were ever chosen in him or that you should be glorified.

9:51 - 10:22 Read in full sermon

The point: If you claim to be in Christ and 2 Corinthians 5:17 does not describe you — if no new creation is evident — you have only one honest conclusion: you are not in Christ. Come to him.

Martin addresses the objection that those raised in Christian homes do not become 'new creatures' but only become the old thing more refined. He flatly denies this: 'if any is in Christ' covers every background, and the absence of new creation evidence is evidence of absence from Christ, not evidence of a milder form of Christianity.

Become new creatures we just sort of become the old thing a little bit more refined no no if any is in Christ it matters not what the background was it matters not what the outward life was it matters not what the religious climate was or is and children listen it doesn't matter what age is in view when a five year old is united to Christ this text is true of the five. Year. When.

16:35 - 17:06 Read in full sermon

The point: Reject every version of Christianity that reduces Jesus to an emotional experience or personal benefit. Pursue union with the Christ who is God's anointed prophet, priest, and king — the Jehovah of the Old Testament who …

Martin invokes the language of 1970s counter-culture — 'you've tried drugs, you've tried booze, you've tried sex, now get high on Jesus' — as a vivid example of what genuine Christian experience is not. He calls it 'a cheap tawdry prostitution of the sacredness of saving religion.' True union is with the Christ who is God's appointed prophet, priest, and king — not a sentimental non-theological experience.

you've tried booze you've tried sex now get high on jesus my friends that's not christianity that's a cheap tawdry prostitution of the sacredness of saving religion whenever there is true genuine christian experience you found in the context of union with christ it is union with christ god's appointed prophet priest and king the pre-incarnate creator the sinless crucified

21:14 - 21:52 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin expounds the meaning of 'new creation,' arguing it underscores divine sovereignty (God alone acts as in original creation), divine power (the same omnipotence that brought…

Martin imagines Paul pausing mid-sentence after writing 'if any, in Christ —', laying down his quill, and ransacking his mind for what to write next. He contemplates his pre-Damascus days, what has happened at Corinth, the vice-filled cities of the Roman Empire — then suddenly picks up his pen and in capital letters writes 'NEW CREATION!' Martin uses this dramatization to convey the weight and wonder that Paul's exclamatory phrase carries.

So then, when Paul wrote, he didn't put in the verb, he is. And the way Paul wrote it, it occurs like this. Wherefore, if any, in Christ, and then I like to picture him pausing and putting down his quill,

27:33 - 27:49 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin expounds the meaning of 'new creation,' arguing it underscores divine sovereignty (God alone acts as in original creation), divine power (the same omnipotence that brought…

Martin paints Paul's pre-conversion state: wandering in the blindness of religious prejudice, bound in chains of hopeless legalism, ensnared in the decadent trappings of Phariseeism — setting up the contrast with his post-conversion state of being held in the vice-like grip of Christ's love, yearning for others to be brought into that same union.

And his mind goes back to those pre-Damascus road days, as he wandered in the blindness of his own religious prejudice, as he was bound in the chains of a hopeless legalism, as he was ensnared in the terrible trappings of an external and decadent religion called Phariseeism. And now, as he finds himself yearning for people to be brought into union with Christ, as he finds himself held in the vice-like grip

28:13 - 28:53 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not settle for Christianity as a refinement of your natural character or a redirection of Adamic energies. Genuine saving religion is a new creation — an act of the same sovereign power that brought worlds into being …

To illustrate divine sovereignty in new creation, Martin pictures God not standing with arms folded waiting until some glob of matter rolls to his feet and requests to be formed. In the beginning God created without waiting for matter's cooperation; in new creation the same sovereign initiative applies — the sinner contributes nothing to the act that makes him a new creature.

as he contemplates the effect of his own union with Christ, as he thinks of what has happened at Corinth and in other major population centers in the Roman Empire, filled with vice and ignorance and idolatry, and what has happened when the gospel is come with power, and he ransacks his mind for something to describe the effect of this union with Christ, suddenly picks up his pen, and where he left off, if any, in Christ, if he were writing in English, he puts a dash, and then in capital letters he puts, NEW CREATION! Exclamation!

29:02 - 29:43 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin shows that new creation is Paul's way of stating what Scripture describes elsewhere as resurrection (Ephesians 2), new birth (John 3), a new heart (Ezekiel 36), a new man…

Paul's word to the Galatians caught in the circumcision controversy (Galatians 6:15) is cited: 'Neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.' Martin uses this to show Paul cutting through the external religious debate to the only question that matters: have you been made a new creation?

For the change necessary for entrance into the kingdom of God is called elsewhere a resurrection. Ephesians. 2. A birth.

35:06 - 35:16 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Drawing on 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 and the Damascus road, Martin contrasts Paul's pre-conversion blindness — seeing in Christ only an impostor, with Satan's power behind that…

Martin narrates the Damascus road account with attention to the Shekinah glory Paul would have recognized from his Old Testament knowledge. Paul's Hebrew question 'Who art thou?' (the equivalent of Jehovah) and the answer 'I am Jesus' is the paradigmatic new sight of Christ — seeing the glory of Jehovah in the face of Jesus Christ. Martin emphasizes that this is not the form new creation takes for everyone, but it is the substance: a Spirit-wrought revolutionary new perception of Christ's glory.

That God spoke to our hearts. He shined in our hearts and the first image that was seen was the very glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's an explanation of what happened on the Damascus road. For you remember in the account given in the book of the Acts there was that blazing light above the light of the noonday sun and that's a bright light with the sun in its zenith in the area of Palestine.

45:11 - 45:48 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine whether the Holy Spirit has given you a new sight of Christ's glory — not necessarily a voice or vision, but a Spirit-wrought perception that makes him your most treasured possession and your greatest grief your …

Martin describes those raised in Christian homes who walked up and down before the constant display of Christ — the manger, the cross, the ascension — bored to death, mentally acknowledging facts about him while being wholly captured by the approval of peers and the titillation of carnal appetites. If asked 'do you believe in Jesus?' they glance over their shoulder: 'I believe in him. Mum and Dad talk about him.' No glory in any of it.

in the perfection of his humanity in the essential reality and dignity of his Godhead though he was set before us crucified set before us enthroned as it were we walked up and down in front of that constant display of Christ bored to death. And if someone asked us do you believe in Jesus Christ we'd glance over our shoulder and say I believe in him. Mum and Dad talk about him. The preacher preaches about him.

48:00 - 48:31 Read in full sermon

The point: Pursue full biblical engagement with the world — work, domestic responsibility, provision for others — without allowing any of it to possess the centre of your life. The new focus of life is the world of unseen spiritual…

Martin quotes Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress — Evangelist's counsel to Christian — as the classic formulation of the new focus of life. 'Let nothing this side of the world to come get within you.' He carefully distinguishes this from monasticism, noting that Christians must work six days and fulfill all domestic and earthly responsibilities — but must not allow the world to occupy the centre.

You must give hours to it. For six days shalt thou labor. And there must be, if there is to be true biblical holiness, the implementation of all the directives of the word of God concerning labor and domestic responsibilities, and the providing for our own and for others, yes, but though we're in that world, and hours are spent in real, genuine, biblical interaction, let nothing this side of the world to come get within you. For according to our Lord, it's when the cares of this life get within us that they choke the word, and it never brings forth fruit to perfection.

55:00 - 55:41 Read in full sermon

The point: Live unto Christ as concretely and comprehensively as a devoted husband lives unto his wife — in the texture of every ordinary duty, not only in explicitly religious activities. The new purpose of life pervades everythin…

Martin argues that the old purpose of living unto self manifests in two opposite-appearing directions: open immorality (the lecher) and devout religiosity (the Pharisee). But both share the identical root motive — self-gratification. This analogy cuts against the assumption that religious devotion distinguishes a person from the self-centered life of the unregenerate.

I confess there have been minutes and maybe hours when you were not in my thoughts. Forgive me. But the difference is in the heart of a true Christian, when he is not enjoying conscious communion in this context of living unto Christ, he knows he's in foreign territory. He's out of his element and he's uncomfortable until he's back in it.

62:00 - 62:28 Read in full sermon

The point: Live unto Christ as concretely and comprehensively as a devoted husband lives unto his wife — in the texture of every ordinary duty, not only in explicitly religious activities. The new purpose of life pervades everythin…

The new purpose of living unto Christ is illustrated by a man wholly devoted to his wife: he comes straight home from work, does not stop at the gin mill, is not consorting with others on business trips, sets her picture up in his motel room, and has her in his thoughts in everything he does. Martin then applies this to the full mundane texture of Christian life — getting up, shaving, going to work, packing lunches, washing dishes — saying that a new creature does all of it living unto Christ, not perfectly but genuinely.

I've cast myself upon His righteousness in His alone and in the embrace of faith, which is the embrace of naked hands, empty hands. I have freely received of His mercy, and because I have thus received, I want to please Him who loved me and gave Himself for me. And then, if time permitted, we could just open up verse 16, but I'll just make a suggestion. The old perspective with reference to people has changed.

63:35 - 64:09 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: From 2 Corinthians 5:16 Martin shows that Paul's old basis was ethnic and religious pedigree, replaced by a new basis: what is their relationship to Christ? He applies this to…

Martin imagines a young Pharisee Paul in Tarsus being introduced to a stranger. Before extending his hand, Paul's first question would be: do you have Abraham's blood? If not — 'you're a Gentile dog, persona non grata.' This is contrasted with the post-conversion Paul, whose first concern is whether you are a royal son or daughter of the living God through faith in Jesus Christ, embracing barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, Jew or Gentile alike.

He cares not whether you be barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, Jew, Gentile, black or white. My whole new basis of evaluating people and therefore of establishing relationships is this. What is their relationship to Him whose glory I have beheld? Ah, listen to me, people.

65:48 - 66:12 Read in full sermon

The point: Search your heart as to whether you evaluate people primarily by their relationship to Christ or by background, race, temperament, and cultural affinity. Racial and ethnic insularity in the church may be evidence of not …

Martin addresses teenagers who boast of liberty from their parents' 'tacky, stuffy styles' while being completely enslaved to the approval of their peers — unable to go one day with clothing or hair that does not match the group. He contrasts this with his own freedom, illustrated by removing his tie while preaching: 'I dare to stand up here tonight and take my tie off while I preach. You wouldn't dare to cut five inches off your hair. You're in bondage. I'm free.'

You wouldn't dare to cut five inches off your hair. You're in bondage. I'm free. Your basis of evaluating people are you my kind?

66:56 - 67:16 Read in full sermon