Do not expect, my friend, that the whole world will rejoice if you become Christian. You will probably receive enmity and hatred and persecution from certain people. It happened in the case of our Lord, and His followers must always be ready to meet it.
MartynThe most urgent need in the Christian Church today is true preaching; and as it is the greatest and most urgent need in the Church it is obviously the greatest need of the world also.
MartynThe man or woman who is born of God, who is regenerate, simply does not and cannot continue-abide-in a life of sin. They may backslide temporarily, but if they are born of God they will come back. It is as certain as that they have been born again. It is the way to test whether or not someone is born again.
MartynThe man who is meek is not even sensitive about himself. He is not always watching himself and his own interests. He is not always on the defensiveโฆ To be truly meek means we no longer protect ourselves, because we see there is nothing worth defendingโฆ The man who is truly meek never pities himself, he is never sorry for himself. He never talks to himself and says, โYou are having a hard time, how unkind these people are not to understand you.
MartynWe must not concentrate overmuch upon our feelings. Do not spend too much time feeling your own pulse taking your own spiritual temperature, do not spend too much time analyzing your feelings. That is the high road to morbidity.
MartynThere is no better test as to whether a man is really preaching the New Testament gospel of salvation than the fact that some people might misunderstand it and misinterpret it to mean that it really amounts to thisโthat because you are saved by grace alone it does not matter at all what you do, that you can go on sinning as much as you like because it will abound all the more to the glory of grace. That is a very good test of gospel preaching. If my preaching and presentation of the gospel of salvation does not expose it to that misunderstanding, then it is not the gospel.
Martyn