Major Hindrances to Confessing Christ

The point: A fourth call beyond those given in the morning: all who have neither believed nor confessed must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and confess that faith - the gospel summons extends to those at the very beginning.

Martin confesses he erroneously cited January 1983 as an inauguration year in the morning sermon, blaming a three-hour time change and the drain of recent days, asking the congregation's forgiveness with characteristic pastoral humor.

My only consolation is I was still rather... I was a little bit drunk from the three-hour time change and the drain of the past days.

2:58 - 3:05 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It means for us verbally, publicly, unreservedly to identify ourselves with Jesus Christ as he is revealed to us in the gospel.

Martin paints the image of Christ on the last day standing as elder brother in the presence of the Father saying 'Here am I, and the children whom thou hast given me' - a public, verbal declaration of unreserved identity with his people, which is the mirror image of what believers are called to do now.

He will say to them, Come, ye blessed of my Father, enter the kingdom prepared. For you from the foundation of the world. In another passage we read the beautiful imagery of Christ standing as the elder brother in the presence of his Father and saying, Here am I, Father, and the children whom thou hast given me. And so for Christ to confess us in the presence of his Father will be nothing less than a public, verbal declaration, of his unreserved identity with us as his people.

5:58 - 6:42 Read in full sermon

The point: Calibrate your fear rightly: fear God who can destroy both soul and body in hell, not men who can only harm the body - this is the primary antidote to paralysis caused by physical intimidation.

Martin draws from the Matthew 10 passage the inference that the whole passage has no meaning if secret discipleship were possible - the hazards Jesus describes presuppose an open, visible identification with Christ that marks a person publicly as his disciple.

This whole passage has no meaning if there is such a thing as a secret disciple. These are those who have confessed Him openly and are unashamed of their identification with Him. And our Lord recognizes that the possibility of physical hazards in conjunction with confessing Him could be a very real stumbling block on the one hand to those who are contemplating the life of discipleship. It can be used as a great barrier of fear to hold them back from a verbal confession of Christ and can also be a great stumbling block

14:11 - 14:55 Read in full sermon

The point: Calibrate your fear rightly: fear God who can destroy both soul and body in hell, not men who can only harm the body - this is the primary antidote to paralysis caused by physical intimidation.

For the children present, Martin defines 'antidote' using the first-aid kit analogy: just as certain foods or drinks cancel the effect of a poison listed in the kit, so God's Word provides spiritual antidotes that neutralize the hindrances to confession.

And for you children an antidote is something that cancels the effect of something else. If you take a poison of a certain kind you may have a first aid kit that says antidotes to this, to that, or the other are these certain foods or drinks. The first one is the spiritual antidotes in order to neutralize these hindrances rooted in the physical hazards of confessing Christ. The first one is found in verse 28.

15:22 - 15:50 Read in full sermon

The point: Calibrate your fear rightly: fear God who can destroy both soul and body in hell, not men who can only harm the body - this is the primary antidote to paralysis caused by physical intimidation.

Martin poses the question: even if a believer is burned at the stake, how long does it take for fire to consume the flesh and release the soul to Christ? Thirty minutes or an hour compared to an eternity under God's wrath makes the temporal pain infinitesimally small.

harm consider the temporary nature of physical harm even if we should be called upon to be burned at a stake how long does it take for the fire to consume the flesh off the body and release the soul to go into the presence of Christ what is thirty minutes or a half hour or an hour of thought what is the time of God for eternity in order to experience the wrath

19:06 - 19:50 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Drawing from Matthew 10:16-33, Martin traces how Christ forewarned his disciples of physical abuse, scourging, imprisonment, and death as the cost of open confession, notes that…

Martin distinguishes Peter's moment of weakness before the servant girl - cursing and swearing 'I know not the man' - from the settled commitment to deny Christ warned against in Matthew 10:33, noting Peter's ultimate martyrdom by upside-down crucifixion as the final confession of his Lord.

Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father in heaven. And that's not speaking of the denial of a temporary lapse. Peter did that in a moment of weakness. He so feared for his own hide that when a little servant girl said, surely you are one of them, he cursed and swore and said, I know not the man.

20:31 - 20:54 Read in full sermon

The point: When facing the prospect of physical cost for confessing Christ, fill your mind with the truth of your Father's particular, detailed care - not one hair falls from your head without his knowledge - so that fear of man is…

Secular history records that Peter, fulfilling Christ's prophecy that men would bind him and take him where he did not wish to go, requested to be crucified upside down so as in no way to approximate what his Lord had suffered - confessing Christ even in death.

He requested that he be crucified upside down. And so he confessed his Lord, even in death. Then the Lord gives a second consideration as an antidote to these possible physical hazards of confessing Christ. Not only the relative insignificance of physical harm, but the relative worth that we have in relationship to God's other creatures.

21:41 - 22:08 Read in full sermon

The point: When facing the prospect of physical cost for confessing Christ, fill your mind with the truth of your Father's particular, detailed care - not one hair falls from your head without his knowledge - so that fear of man is…

Martin expounds the sparrow argument from Matthew 10:29-31: if not one of two sparrows sold for a single penny falls to the ground without the Father's knowledge, will, and present providential care, how much more does the Father surround and sustain his disciples who face physical hazards for his sake.

He is saying to people whom he knows would be timid about the implications of confessing him before men, especially in the light of the teaching that he had just given, that they would be hated, that they would be beaten, that they would be delivered up to courts, that some would be killed as to the body. But he says, fill your mind with this antidote that will preserve you against denying me. Remember, your relative worth in comparison with the rest of God's creatures. Two little sparrows sold for a pittance, and yet not a one of them falls to the ground without the knowledge and will.

22:37 - 23:16 Read in full sermon

The point: Arm yourself against the temptation to draw back by bringing near the last day: in that moment, if Christ does not confess you before the Father, no one else will plead your case - the eternal stakes dwarf any present so…

Historical testimony from accounts of martyrs burned at the stake: some reportedly hugged their bonds, so filled were they with Christ's presence that God apparently neutralized the physical pain upon their bodies - demonstrating the Father's sustaining care in the very act of martyrdom.

And even if he allows us to pay the ultimate price, as is so often the testimony of the saints in martyrdom, there was a peculiar presence of Christ in the midst of the flames that caused some of the martyrs burned at the stake, literally, where possible, to hug their bands. So filled were they with the sense of the presence of God, that God apparently even neutralized the physical pain upon their body. And they understood the meaning of these words. Consider your relative worth in comparison to other of God's creatures.

24:38 - 25:20 Read in full sermon

The point: Arm yourself against the temptation to draw back by bringing near the last day: in that moment, if Christ does not confess you before the Father, no one else will plead your case - the eternal stakes dwarf any present so…

Martin urges the practical discipline of making the last day feel near and present when tempted to draw back: 'Bring near that day when if Christ does not confess you before the Father, no one else will come to plead your God. When Christ comes forth and denies you, who will there be?'

When you're tempted to draw back because of some possible physical hazards involved in confessing him, bring near the last day. Bring near that day when if Christ does not confess you before the Father, no one else will come to plead your God. When Christ comes forth and denies you, who will there be? Who will there be to appeal his denial?

26:40 - 27:08 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin expounds Matthew 10:34-39 - the sword Christ brings that divides households - explaining how God designed humans as social creatures and how confession cuts across the…

Martin illustrates that the social need exploited by this hindrance is God-designed, not merely human weakness: it was God, not Adam, who declared 'It is not good for the man to be alone' - Adam was not sitting around feeling blue, God made the conclusion himself and wired humans for community.

The hindrance rooted in the social hazards of that confession for this simple reason. God made us social creatures. It was God who came to Adam with the conclusion it is not good for the man to be alone. Adam wasn't sitting around somewhere, feeling blue, scratching his head, saying, what in the world is wrong with me?

31:01 - 31:24 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin expounds Matthew 10:34-39 - the sword Christ brings that divides households - explaining how God designed humans as social creatures and how confession cuts across the…

To show how deeply God made humans social creatures, Martin describes a child called 'fatty' or 'four-eyes' by neighborhood kids who comes in weeping - not from physical pain but from social rejection, illustrating why the prospect of being set apart from one's natural social circle is such a powerful deterrent to confession.

So when you've got the four little kids in the neighborhood about the same age who meet in the same backyard to play, if one of them becomes a little overweight and all the other kids begin to call him fatty and cubby, he comes weeping into his mother because he feels that social pressure. Or maybe a kid has to start wearing glasses, very young, and they start calling him four-eyes. And he'll come in weeping. Hurts him.

32:29 - 32:56 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin expounds Matthew 10:34-39 - the sword Christ brings that divides households - explaining how God designed humans as social creatures and how confession cuts across the…

Martin catalogs the breadth of the social hazard: the kids in the backyard, peers at school, the guys at the office, the gals at the secretary pool, students at university - in every circle 'the whole world lieth in the wicked one,' making confession of Christ a socially costly act wherever one turns.

He made us that way. But now, because society in every level has given itself over to the service of sin, we are being pushed into a state of self-pity, of self-pity, of self-pity, of self-pity, of self-pity, of self-pity, of self-pity, of self-pity, of self-pity, of self-pity, of self-pity, of self-pity. There is no society in every level has given itself over to the service of sin. There is no social circle, whether it's the kids in the backyard, whether it's our peers at school, whether it's the guys at the office, whether it's the gals at the secretary pool, whether it's the students at th...

33:03 - 33:48 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not be surprised or derailed when confessing Christ brings social persecution - Jesus said all his blessed ones are those who are reviled and persecuted for his name's sake, and Paul confirmed all who live godly shall…

Martin recounts weeping when he heard the testimony of a young Florida preacher who, after God saved him following twenty years of preaching without saving faith, lost his wife and two children - they left him declaring him mad and possessed of a devil - the extreme but real social price of confession.

I sat and wept just a few weeks ago when I heard the testimony of a young preacher down in Florida who simply because God was pleased to save him after being an unsafe preacher for twenty years has lost his wife and his two children. They've left him declaring him mad and possessed of a devil.

36:08 - 36:34 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize the normalcy of social division as the first antidote to being shocked by the cost of confession: Christ came explicitly to bring a sword, not peace, in the realm of social relationships.

Martin addresses those who say they believe but are waiting for their husband or wife to catch up before confessing Christ - applying Christ's words that love of spouse more than Christ makes one unworthy of him, and that when Christ calls, husband and wife must in a sense become a faceless man and a faceless woman.

I believe that God has raised his son from the dead. I do see myself in need of the righteousness of faith. And I do believe at times that that faith is present in me. And I know that I ought and I really desire to confess it with my mouth, but I'm not sure where my husband stands on these things.

40:25 - 40:48 Read in full sermon

The point: If you are waiting for your spouse to catch up before you confess Christ, heed Christ's words: he will tolerate no rival to unqualified allegiance - love of husband or wife that exceeds love for Christ makes one unworthy…

Martin cites the well-known saying of Jim Elliot, the missionary killed by the Auca Indians: 'He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep in order to gain what he cannot lose' - a paraphrase of Matthew 10:39 on losing life to find it, applied to the social cost of confession.

And then thirdly, recognize the folly of refusal to confess him because of social hazard. Verse 39, he who has found his life shall lose it. He who has lost his life for my sake shall find it. Some of you will remember the well-known words of Jim Elliot, the young missionary who was killed by the Alka Indians down on those shores of that jungle area.

41:39 - 42:10 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Using John 9, Martin contrasts the parents of the healed blind man - who refused to confess Christ to avoid expulsion from the synagogue with its economic and social ramifications…

Martin explains that being put out of the synagogue was not merely a religious sanction but had economic and social ripples extending throughout a Jew's life - it meant being cut off from the central hearing and reading of God's Word, the corporate confession of Israel's God, and the practical web of community life built around it.

And they feared the religious hazard of confessing Christ. To be put out of the synagogue meant to be treated as an outcast. In many situations, though we cannot clearly establish this from scripture, there are several inferences, but from secular Jewish history, it meant economic as well as social along with religious banishment. To be cast out of the synagogue meant that at the central area of a Jew's life, the hearing and the reading of the word of God, the corporate confession of the great confession that Israel's God was one.

46:48 - 47:31 Read in full sermon

Driving home: My theology is very weak, but my eyeballs ain't weak no more. They can see. Once blind, now I see.

Martin gives the healed man's response a vivid colloquial paraphrase: 'When my mama puts the grits and gravy on the table, I can see it now... When there's a beef roast on the table, I can see it now. My theology is very weak, but my eyeballs ain't weak no more' - the simple, unanswerable testimony that no theological argument could dislodge.

We know that this man is a sinner. He therefore answered, whether he's a sinner, I don't know. But one thing I know, whereas these eyeballs couldn't see anything, they sure working fine now. When my mama puts the grits and gravy on the table, I can see it now.

48:38 - 48:56 Read in full sermon

Driving home: My theology is very weak, but my eyeballs ain't weak no more. They can see. Once blind, now I see.

Growing bolder at each confrontation, the healed man finally turns the tables on the Pharisees: 'Why do you want to hear again? You do not want to become his disciples, do you?' - confessing Christ not merely defensively but with growing theological wit and courage.

Why do you want to hear again? You do not want to become his disciples, do you? He says, you want to hear some more because you're really interested and you're desirous of confessing him? Well, this really got to them.

49:36 - 49:52 Read in full sermon

The point: If you fear the religious hazard of confessing Christ through baptism and membership in a gathered church, ask yourself honestly whether your current religious association has brought genuine light and life; Christ who f…

Martin frames the blind man's expulsion from the synagogue as a fair exchange: out from under blind leaders of the blind conducting a round of empty religious ritual, directly into the presence and intimate fellowship of the Son of God who came and found him.

And when he said, I am he, the Spirit of God opened his spiritual eyes and he fell at his feet in worship. Now notice, wasn't that a fair exchange? Cast out of the synagogue, out from the church, out from under the leadership of blind leaders of the blind, into the presence and intimate fellowship of the Son of God. It says, Jesus found him.

53:20 - 53:48 Read in full sermon

The point: The most powerful antidote to the fear of man in all its forms is to look to Christ who bore the greatest degree of physical, social, and religious rejection in pursuit of the salvation of sinners - greater than anything…

Martin's personal testimony: weeks after his conversion in Stanford, Connecticut, walking down Strawberry Hill, cars of high school students would roll down their windows and shout 'Hey, Holy Roller! Walk on your heels and save your souls!' - the social cost of his own early confession of Christ.

And for some of us, that's not just theory. I can remember well walking down that long hill, it was called Strawberry Hill in Stanford, Connecticut, weeks after I was converted, and where once I was at the center of a group of guys walking down. I walked either alone or with one or two of my Christian friends. And many of the cars coming down that hill full of high school students would have the windows rolled down and they'd toot their horns when they saw me and they'd yell out the window, Hey, Holy Roller!

57:02 - 57:33 Read in full sermon

The point: The most powerful antidote to the fear of man in all its forms is to look to Christ who bore the greatest degree of physical, social, and religious rejection in pursuit of the salvation of sinners - greater than anything…

Continuing his Strawberry Hill testimony, Martin describes the compensation: to know the Savior walked with him, to experience some measure of the fellowship of Christ's sufferings, and to pillow his head knowing his sins were forgiven - worth more than all the social acceptance and back-slapping of peers.

Walk on your heels and save your souls! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! It hurt that I tell you there was a compensation that more, that more than made up for the hurt, it was to know that the Savior walked with me and to be able to hold communion with Him in some little measure of the fellowship of His sufferings and to be able to go home and pillow my head at night and know that my sins were forgiven. All the social support of the back-slapping and the kind words of social peers

57:33 - 58:15 Read in full sermon

The point: The most powerful antidote to the fear of man in all its forms is to look to Christ who bore the greatest degree of physical, social, and religious rejection in pursuit of the salvation of sinners - greater than anything…

Martin cites the analysis of those who have studied various forms of torturous lingering death: from a purely physical standpoint, crucifixion may be the most excruciating form of death ever devised - so there is no physical agony a believer will ever bear that Christ has not borne in greater measure for our salvation.

You realize there is no physical agony you and I will ever be called upon to bear that He has not borne a greater in pursuit of our salvation. We are told by those who have analyzed various forms of torturous, lingering death that just from the physical standpoint there is perhaps no form of death more excruciating than that of crucifixion. And I will not go into the details of why it is so lest you be moved with a carnal sympathy for Christ. But suffice it to say that there is no physical pain that any of the saints will ever bear

60:14 - 60:59 Read in full sermon

The point: The most powerful antidote to the fear of man in all its forms is to look to Christ who bore the greatest degree of physical, social, and religious rejection in pursuit of the salvation of sinners - greater than anything…

Even in Christ's own home the social sword fell: his brothers taunted him saying 'We've heard about the big shot things you are doing in other places - why don't you go ahead and do them here too and prove your stuff,' while John records 'even his own brethren did not believe on him.'

Think of it. The sword cut into the very home in Nazareth. They taunted Him. They said, Yeah, we've heard about the big shot things you are doing in other places.

61:12 - 61:22 Read in full sermon

Driving home: My friend, there is no social taunting you will ever bear that Christ is not already born in pursuit of the salvation of sinners.

Christ's intimate disciples fled in his hour of suffering; in Gethsemane they were snoring while he groaned and agonized in bloody sweat, prompting his rebuke 'What? Could you not watch with me one hour?' - the social abandonment Christ bore for our salvation.

He felt the pain of His own intimate disciples fleeing in the hour of His suffering. Letting Him down in the hour of His agony. What? Could you not watch with me one hour?

61:38 - 61:49 Read in full sermon

Driving home: My friend, there is no social taunting you will ever bear that Christ is not already born in pursuit of the salvation of sinners.

The religious establishment rejected Christ because he refused to toe their denominational standards and traditions, cutting through accumulated tradition with divine authority: 'You have heard that it was said, but I say unto you' - before pronouncing woes on the Pharisees as whitewashed sepulchres full of dead men's bones.

Why? Because He did not parrot the party line. He did not toe the denominational standards. They had their own tradition of what God's Word meant, and He cut through it saying, You have heard that it was said, but I say unto you.

62:37 - 62:57 Read in full sermon

The point: Begin confessing Christ in the ordinary fabric of Monday-morning life - in the office, the classroom, the place of business - not by being boorish, but by quietly and firmly declining to participate in what dishonors him…

Martin gives a concrete Monday-morning application: when a coworker tells a filthy joke, the confessing Christian need not be boorish but can gently say 'My ears are the property of Christ and he doesn't approve of my letting garbage go in them. Tell your joke to someone else' - a practical act of confession in the workplace.

name in that place of business tomorrow. And when they come to tell you that filthy joke, you don't need to be boorish and unsociable, but gently but firmly say, I'm sorry. My ears are the property of Christ and he doesn't approve of my letting garbage go in them. Tell your joke to someone else. Confess him in that office. Confess him in

66:13 - 66:42 Read in full sermon