Your Words, Your Heart and the Day of Judgment

In this part of the sermon: Martin introduces 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, noting its placement within Paul's discussion of fornication and explaining that the truth of being bought with a price extends beyond…

Martin uses Ephesians 5 as an example of how Paul's teaching on Christ's death extends beyond its immediate context to influence broader life duties, paralleling the application of 1 Cor 6:19-20.

first letter to the corinthians and consider a brief portion of chapter six in which the truth of the centrality of the cross is seen as the cross is planted right down in the midst of the apostles treatment of the subject of fornication there in the church at corinth and as the apostle is seeking to load the consciences of the people of god with reasons as to why they should flee fornication among the many concerns central to them all is the concern that is set before us in the portion of this passage that we will consider together as our communion meditation a few months ago i sought to give...

4:29 - 5:43 Read in full sermon

The point: To say to a group of people that they are to regard themselves in no sense as their own possession. You are not your own.

He cites the 'it is my body, I am free to do what I will with my body' rationale used to justify abortion as an example of the 'I am my own person-ism' that the sermon challenges.

A radical affirmation. Here the apostle says to these Corinthians, And you are not your own. In a day of crass self-expression and I am my own person-ism, in a day when the rationale to justify the slaying of one and a half million unborn children every year in our country is, it is my body, I am free to do what I will with my body, in a day in which people speak of their preferences being the only rule and law to which they are obligated, I say this is a radical affirmation. To say to a group of people that they are to regard themselves in no sense as their own possession. You are not your ow...

7:47 - 8:49 Read in full sermon

Driving home: A bonified commercial transaction has passed over us and has made us genuinely, truly, rightfully, legally the property of another.

Martin suggests Paul might be using the language of manumission, where a slave was freed by a price paid to the master, possibly in the name of a deity, to illustrate the concept of being bought with a price.

And it may well be, and some of the commentators point this out, that Paul may be referring to an act that is called an act of manumission in which a slave was set free by a price paid to the master in the name of a deity. And in the name of a pagan deity, a slave would be purchased and become the property of another. And it may be that against that background in a society that was riddled with the institution of slavery that Paul uses the language. But whether that's there or not, this much is clear.

12:52 - 13:32 Read in full sermon

The point: I am now under solemn obligation in every place at all times and in all relationships to be passionately concerned that what I do what I say where I go and how I interact with others what I think when I'm alone all that …

He describes the chaotic charismatic gatherings in Corinth, where prophecy and tongues were exercised without order, followed by immoral behavior, to highlight the need for redemption to impact the whole person, including the body.

And we come back again to a textual matter. That particular translation is based on a textual tradition that lays in my judgment too much weight upon certain manuscripts and the manuscript evidence for that additional part is, is very weak and apparently was added by certain scribes because this seems so crassly fleshy. It needed to be elevated into a little higher level of spirituality to be told that the universal implication of being purchased by the blood of Christ is that God be glorified in our bodies with no mention of the spirit seems crassly, crassly carnal and, and focused upon what ...

15:30 - 16:53 Read in full sermon

The point: You present yourself in the concreteness of your bodily existence. That body that God has given you in that body you are to glorify him.

Martin explains that presenting our bodies as living sacrifices, as in Romans 12:1, is a rational service, contrasting it with the Old Testament practice of sacrificing animals.

But this is not the only passage that speaks of glorifying God in the realm or sphere of our bodily existence. I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your hearts no present your souls no what does Romans 12 once say? That you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable rational service. You don't go out and get an animal and slit its throat and present it unto God as an expression of gratitude for his free salvation and his mercy in Christ.

21:39 - 22:19 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He bridges the sermon's teaching to the Lord's Supper, explaining that the emblems represent the purchased price and the whole Christ who bought the whole person, demanding whole…

He uses the common summer activities like backyard barbecues, neighborhood pools, and community pools as a pastoral context to challenge believers on modesty and the glorification of God in their bodies.

And by your grace oh Lord Jesus I am committed to glorify you in my body. Now that's the avenue from the text to the table. And now I want to speak very pastorally. Summer is upon us and with summer come back yard post and neighborhood pools and community pools and park lakes.

27:05 - 27:35 Read in full sermon

The point: Can you put on your bathing gown your garment whatever it is and say Lord Jesus I glorify you in the bearing of this much of my body to anyone who wants to look upon me.

Martin contrasts the immodesty of certain swimwear with what would be considered indecent if worn on the street, questioning the compromised consciences of Christians who accept such norms in beach or pool settings.

Do you hear what I'm saying? If you consciously say when you get up the morning you're planning to go to PV Park to the community pool to your backyard I don't care where it is can you put on your bathing gown your garment whatever it is and say Lord Jesus I glorify you in the bearing of this much of my body to anyone who wants to look upon me. Oh yes it may elicit a leering and I may feed the wickedness of the hearts of men but Lord Jesus I glorify you as I do it. Can you gather with your brothers in Christ when you know what Christ said? Whoso looks to lust upon a woman hath committed adulte...

28:49 - 30:14 Read in full sermon

The point: You men you have an obligation you're bought with a price glorify God what you put on it what you take off it what you put in it and what you don't put in it

He points to the increasingly pornographic nature of packaging in men's sections of stores as evidence of a broader cultural shift towards objectification and body consciousness, affecting both men and women.

surely you want to glorify God in your body do you not? and what about the text where Jesus said it is necessary that offenses come in a wicked world men are going to sin but woe unto him through whom the offense comes it were better that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he were drowned in the sea my friends that's strong language and some of you women may say oh man you're going to lie to me you must have lust if you wear a gunny sack ah yes but if you go out down main street in a gunny sack and a man lusts after you your conscience is clear that you have not unnecessarily occasione...

32:18 - 33:45 Read in full sermon

The point: The service can never be reconciled without first reconciling the masters but the prince of this world has nothing in Christ and what fellowship has Christ with Belial yet the attempted double service the attempt to serv…

Martin quotes from Moody Stewart's meditation on Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of our Lord, specifically a passage about the meaning of 'Rabboni' and the danger of attempting to serve two masters.

I've got to do the best I can to make sure that Jesus gets the fruit of his death in this body that's why some of us submit ourselves to a regimen of exercise from which we get no highs which is unpleasant to our flesh it's the conviction that it's only in this body that we can serve God until he stops the ticker and it lies in the grave and waits the resurrection we've got to think that way it's in your body that you will be the mother and the wife and the husband and the father and the friend and the workman and the mercy on us if like the Corinthians we can be spiritual in an unbodily way w...

36:39 - 38:07 Read in full sermon

The point: The service can never be reconciled without first reconciling the masters but the prince of this world has nothing in Christ and what fellowship has Christ with Belial yet the attempted double service the attempt to serv…

He mentions submitting to a regimen of exercise, even if unpleasant, as an example of glorifying God in the body out of conviction that the body is purchased property to be used for His service.

I've got to do the best I can to make sure that Jesus gets the fruit of his death in this body that's why some of us submit ourselves to a regimen of exercise from which we get no highs which is unpleasant to our flesh it's the conviction that it's only in this body that we can serve God until he stops the ticker and it lies in the grave and waits the resurrection we've got to think that way it's in your body that you will be the mother and the wife and the husband and the father and the friend and the workman and the mercy on us if like the Corinthians we can be spiritual in an unbodily way w...

36:39 - 38:07 Read in full sermon