Okay, so Hugh Martin is my topic for this evening a brief sketch of his life and works Why Hugh Martin for a Reformation service you might ask The Reformation took place in the 16th century and Hugh Martin was born just over Hugh Martin was born in the 19th century at the beginning of the 19th century. So why Hugh Martin the answer is multifaceted One, the Reformation, its principles, convictions, and the great confessional statements born out of it were the heritage of Hugh Martin and his comrades. Two, the need for Reformation was once again a necessity in the 19th century, and as it is today, that man is saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to the scriptures alone, and all to the glory of God alone, needed to be fought for and upheld afresh in Martin's day. There's also a sense in which the Reformation hadn't stopped. Some have called what took place at the beginning of the 19th century, particularly in Scotland, a third Reformation. And Hugh Martin was born at such a time and was fitted and gifted by God to be a voice and a pen to once again fight for and to keep the faith once for all delivered. And so our first consideration is his life. Hugh Morton was born in Aberdeen, Scotland on August 11, 1822, the son of Alexander and Isabella Martin. He was the first born of seven children. Two of his sisters would die in infancy, and the other sister would die at the age 18, and his three other brothers survived into adulthood along with Hugh. His brothers, it seems, were all very gifted and able men, such as Hugh, though we wouldn't say to the same extent. But Alexander Martin accomplished MA and MD and became a general practitioner. He was a licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh. His brother James Foote II was a chemist and druggist. His brother, William, probably stands out the most amongst his brothers, was a manager of the Royal Blind Asylum. And he was very innovative in helping the blind in his day. It's thought that probably because his father also had a role in helping the blind, that there might have been blindness in the family. We're not sure. But he was innovative. He sought to improve the lives of the blind by bringing in things like gymnasiums, swimming pool to the asylum. He sought to provide books, education, and gainful employment for the blind as well. Not all were in agreement with him on this. He published a highly regarded paper on the use of Braille in education. When disagreement came to a head on his desire to employ the blind in the betting industry, Disagreement came to a head and he was dismissed from his role. He went and opened up his own mattress company, which I believe, well, here's what happened. The blind asylum is now a mattress company that he used to work at. And he opened his own mattress company that still exists to this day. So quite a legacy behind him. Let's see, I don't have the names of them. Martin and Frost is the name of one of them that I still think it goes under that name. William would also become an elder in the free church congregation in Grange Edinburgh in 1868, where Horatius Bonar was the minister. So that's his family, their religious background. was a good conservative Orthodox background. It was described by the minister they would have sat under as children and whose preaching their father came to faith under and would eventually become an elder in that church says this, he says, writing concerning the 10 years conflict, which we'll get into in a minute. In my early years, I held those views, which belonged to evangelical Orthodox thorough paced, which means genuine and uncompromising, thorough paced Presbyterianism. I take no credit. He's talking about the eventual break from the Church of Scotland. I take no credit for standing to what I ever felt to be the essential principles of the Church of Scotland. But I bless God that after cooperating with others to prevent the necessity of breaking our connection with the state, I felt no desire, no temptation not to act with decision when that necessity became plain. And so that's his religious upbringing. And Hugh Martin was born at a time when many theological giants were raised up by God to stand for truth, not only in Scotland, but around the world. As Hugh Ferrier, one biographer, says, they were God-fearing, Bible-believing, Christ-exalting, and Spirit-sanctified men who led exemplary lives. He goes on to say there were the Alexanders, Hodges, Warfield, Shedd, Thornwell, Dabney, Plumer, Palmer, and many more in America. In Ireland were men like Cook, Witherow, Heron, Salmon, and Watt. and others. And then Bishop Ryle, Dean Vaughn, A.R. Fawcett, Lightfoot, Litton, Mool, Winslow, Spurgeon, and many more graced England. Kuiper and Bovink to mention too from the Netherlands. And in Scotland, out of the free church were such men as T.J. Crawford, A.F. Mitchell, Patterson, Glog, Jameson, John Eady, Dr. John Brown of Broughton Place, And the old free church in its best and purest days had Chalmers, Cunningham, Candlewish, James Buchanan, Bannerman, Smeaton, Duncan, Fairburn, McGlackin, Moody Stewart's, the Bonar brothers and Murray McShane and a host of others. According to GNM Collins, in terms of his religious upbringing and calling, Martin feared the Lord from his youth. It is said in his early conversion was followed by the call to devote himself to the ministry of the gospel and his higher studies from the beginning were directed towards that end. After finishing grammar school in terms of his education, grammar school in Aberdeen, which all children would have went to, he went off to Marshall college at about 14 to 15 years old. He was a brilliant student and was awarded many prizes, including the gray bursary, the highest mathematical award given by that college. He graduated with an M.A. in April 1839 before his 17th birthday and would begin his theological studies between Marischal and King's colleges who had combined a curriculum because they didn't have the means independently to provide that kind of education. The two would later combine to become the University of Aberdeen in 1960. It was during these theological studies that Martin says of Robert Candlish that he awoke my young enthusiasm. I believe that's in 1820, I believe, when that's stated. Now, all of this is taking place, as we've mentioned, at the end of the 10 years conflict leading up to the great disruption. The debate essentially amounts to this. Who has authority to call a minister to a given parish? in any area. Does the church under Christ their head have authority or do the landowners and the state control the calling of ministers? The patronage system said that local landowners had the ability to call whatever minister they wish to a local congregation and the congregation must submit to that minister regardless. The evangelical party said that this disrupted the spiritual independence of the church. Christ alone is head of the church and each church ought to have the freedom to call their own ministers. So the Ten Years Conflict is the ongoing debate surrounding these issues and the Great Disruption is the final splitting off of the two groups. The Great Disruption is the birth and constitution of the Free Church of Scotland in 1843. Here's a quote on it. On May 18, 1843, during the meeting of the General Assembly in Edinburgh, Thomas Chalmers led about 474 ministers and a large portion of elders and congregations out of the Church of Scotland. They marched down the hill to Tanfield Hall, where the Free Church of Scotland was constituted. Their principle, we hold that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only king and head of his church. And this is about the time, right about the time Martin concluded his theological studies, all the way up until about a year prior to this, he had been indifferent to the matter during the 10 years conflict, until coming under the influence of William Cunningham. Here's the account But we are told that on the 23rd of May 1842 Martin heard dr William Cunningham speak in the General Assembly on the subject of patronage According to an eyewitness Cunningham arrayed against the whole system of church patronage the combined authority of scripture of Ecclesiastical history of right reason and of the nature of things it was enough to convince you Martin He was completely won over to the principles of non intrusiveness. That is the evangelical party And it would be just about a year after this, May 19, 1843, the very day after the signing of the document that began the Great Disruption, that Martin would be licensed to preach as a minister in the newly constituted Free Church of Scotland. He was ordained at 23. To be ordained at 23 was an unusually early age, even at that time. Now consider what Martin and these nearly 500 ministers were doing Martin and these ministers are giving up a secured position in the established church. They're giving up a guaranteed livelihood. Come what may, for the cause of fidelity to the scriptures, for the cause of Christ and his gospel, we're going to the Free Church of Scotland. You should also know that Martin, as we've mentioned, Martin himself forsook, without a doubt, an outstanding career as a mathematician. for the sake of the gospel and for the service of the people and ministry. As one said, he was the finest home-bred mathematician Scotland has ever produced. To give you an idea, quoting again Ferrier here, he said he regularly contributed to the transactions of the Mathematical Society of London. He acted as examiner in mathematics to the University of Edinburgh. He was a member of the Mathematical Society of London. And in 1867, he published a study of trilinear coordinates. Quote, the title is a study of trilinear coordinates being a consecutive series of 72 propositions in transversals. If that doesn't impress you, then here's the title of another paper. Note, a note, this is the title, a note on Professor Tate's quarterian path to determinants of the third order. Is that like a sci-fi book or sci-fi movie? I don't know. He also would lecture on science in relation to the biblical doctrine of creation to the last weight in district science school in 1871 was well received and was invited to other schools as well. It's also said he was a master pianist. He was asked by some young girls, the story goes some young girls asked him to come and play piano for him. So he played basically like a really fast children's song that wasn't a piece of music, but he was so gifted that he could just pick it up and play it. And they recognized it as this little Irish diddy that they had sung his little girls. So he's ordained to the ministry and in A year's time in 1844, he receives his first ministerial call to the Free Church of Panbride. Now, Lord Panmure was the landowner and was not in favor of the Free Church and would not allow a place for worship. His son, Lord Panmure's son, was sympathetic to the Free Church, but Lord Panmure, because of frequent fits of anger, had basically cut all family ties to that point. They sent him some five letters requesting a place to worship and he never even responded. But in the same year a farmer gave them a site and they erected a wooden church or essentially I think it was a barn. So they erected a barn or a wooden church that they would worship in for 10 years or maybe even 10 to 14 years. This farmer did this at the risk of being expelled from the land potentially by Lord Panmure. The successor, however, of Lord Panmure, his son, after Lord Panmure dies, did relent. I suppose relent's not the way to put it because he was already sympathetic. He happily donated a hundred pounds and a site where a new permanent building would go up. This was in May 1854, though Martin would only remain for four more years. And the building actually didn't go up until 1859. So he didn't even get to see the building. He stayed in that wooden church building for his 14-year ministry there. And Martin worked hard during this 14-year ministry. The population was some 1,300. And in four years of being there, he had brought the membership from zero to 202. Now back then, bit of a different process for bringing folks into membership. From my understanding, folks would apply for admission to the Lord's Table. Essentially, they were applying for communicate membership. And upon that application, the minister, along with the session, would give thorough examination of the applicant's life and profession of faith. And then they would appear before the session for a final examination. So 202 folks brought in this way. This is no easy task. He worked hard. It was here, I believe, the sermons taken from this, from his time here, are in the book title down here that I have on Union with Christ. Very wonderful, warm, pastoral sermons. So it was here that he was married to his wife, Elizabeth Jane Robertson, in September 1846. And they were blessed with eight children of their own, seven girls and one boy. One of the daughters died at 18 months, and the other daughter would die at 11 years old. The rest survived. His son married with children. None of his daughters married. Yeah, I don't know if I'll mention anything about his son. You can ask me about it after. His son is not of the same theological persuasion as him. It's actually a very sad story. He goes the other way, liberal. Anyways, so that's his son. But his son is quite famous himself, but for not good reasons. So Martin was highly sought after toward the end of his years at Panbride. He's a popular preacher at this point in time. And in 1858, he was called and persuaded, he had been called by other churches, but finally persuaded to accept the call to Gray Friars Free Church in Edinburgh. And he would accept the call and he would minister here only until 1863, when by a mysterious providence, it ended what looked to be a promising ministry for years to come. From this time on, and it had been going on for a couple years, from this time on, Hugh Martin would suffer significant mental health issues from 1963 until his death in 1885. His death is just called disease of the brain. We don't really know what that means. Um, and they really don't know what it was. I mean, it could have been a tumor. Could have just been, you know, the bipolar disorder that I think, you know, we would classify today. Yeah. Bipolar would probably be today's diagnosis in terms of, um, what he was beginning to experience. Um, energetic intellectual highs followed by melancholic and suicidal bouts. In these last years, he was in and out of what were then called, unfortunately, lunatic asylums. So when you're reading the account, it's this lunatic asylum and that lunatic asylum. Today, we'd call them mental health units. So this was indeed a dark cloud that would hang over the remainder of his ministry. It really, truly does. He's essentially separated from family for the majority of this time. And the thought amongst family, himself, doctors, friends, seems to be that being at home was not safe during his bouts of bipolar. His daughters came to visit him once, and in a Job-like event, one daughter, as she was visiting him, I think some three weeks, got influenza and died while they were under his care. He was in a cottage that it was recommended he stay in, and they came to visit. It was during a time where he was mentally well. He would have bouts of it where he would not be well and then he would be well. And strangely, this was the most productive time of his life in terms of his writing. Speaking of his retirement, Dr. Begg refers to this as a mysterious providence removing him from the place where he was confidently expected to exert a mighty and extensive influence for good, that is, at the Greyfriars Free Church. But God had other work for this great man to do. And indeed, he did accomplish much. That's end quote. He did accomplish much. He began by editing the five-volume commentary of John Trapp. that we now have access to. It was Hugh Martin that did that. He took it up and took him some years. This is, I don't know if I have this in my notes, but this is, he's doing this stuff while he's well. And from my understanding under doctor's advice, So he edits this commentary. He writes, I think, the three books over here, three of his works there. He contributes to the Watchword magazine and other quarterlies that stood against the tide of error and heresies that were flooding the church. He's basically the guy for William Cunningham, who's the head of the Watchword, and I forget the other one, but he's the guy that's writing and going toe-to-toe with all of these German rationalists. So, when he was well, he would fill pulpits, he would speak at a G.E.A., I think one or two General Assemblies, wrote those works, all except the abiding presence during those years. And he was eventually awarded an honorary doctorate for his work. He was nominated to become a professor of New Testament, I believe it was. I forget what college, but they went the liberal route and picked somebody else. I don't think because of his qualifications, but because they weren't of his theological persuasion. I had a difficult time wrestling with the presenting this portion of his life That's difficult to think about all of this with you know Him not being around his children and wife and yet still producing these works that was tough and we need compassion Much compassion just like we do with mental health issues today Much of what took place toward the end of Hughes life. We don't know I'm just filling in what little details that we have You know, there's there's not a whole lot on him and What we do know, though, in all of this is that God is and has been pleased to place His treasure in earthen vessels. Is that not true? He's been pleased to place His treasure in earthen vessels. And it's a great reminder of Paul's words at the end of 1 Corinthians 1.26. To 31, for you see your calling brethren that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty and the base things of the world and the things which are despised. God has chosen and the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that as it is written, he who glories, let him glory in the Lord. You see, He didn't raise Hugh Martin up for us to think much of Hugh Martin. He raised him up so that we might glory in God and exalt the Lord Jesus Christ in our minds and hearts. Don't make too much of Hugh Martin, but make much of the gospel God entrusted him to pass on. As one put it, we want perfection in ministers here and now, but that's for glory. It's the end of my talk on his life and now on to his works. What can we say about his works? As a theologian, he was Catholic in the right sense of the term. Universal. That is, he held to the great creeds of the church. He was reformed as he was committed to the Westminster standards, believing them to summarily contain the whole council of God. He was an advocate defender of these truths along with the doctrine of scripture, the atonement and other doctrines under attack. Martin stood in as a gracious and able defender of those doctrines. Farrier quoting Collins, one biographer, says this, he says, the old Calvinism of reformed Scotland was being modified in deference to the new learning of the German rationalistic schools. The new theology cast doubt upon the inerrancy of Holy Scripture and its doctrine of the atonement had a distinct Amaraldian tinge. But defenders of the faith were not lacking in the hour of crisis. And among them, a foremost place was taken by Dr. Martin. In him, penetrating theological insight was matched with warm evangelical fervor. Collins goes on to say his sword play, that is his polemics, was magnificent. But when he entered the arena, it was not from love of controversy, but because necessity was laid upon him. The polemic in him was always under the restraint of the evangelist. He was a preacher by predilection, a controversialist by constraint. of circumstances. And adding to this, in all of his writings, Martin is unique. There is a rare harmony in Martin. I'm going to try to quick get past this so we can hear Martin. There's a rare harmony in Martin. The analytic discipline of a mathematician blended with the devotional brilliance of a theologian and the contemplative wonder of one in constant communion with God and His Word. This is what we see in Martin. Though very sound and logical, you never get the sense that logic and doctrinal precision aren't at once becoming the servants of a marveling adoration of God in the gospel of Christ. An evangelical and pastoral heart are also never long absent, urging the unbeliever to come along and the believer to further come along and believe on his Christ, his savior. Speaking again of his sermons or speaking of his sermons, Matt and Catherine Hyde, recent biographers and editors of these two volumes down here, say most include and some consist of direct pleas to the unbeliever to embrace Christ, where earnest warnings are conjoined with warm encouragements. All are pervaded with the utmost seriousness and a reverent awareness of the nearness of the tender, majestic savior there to be believed in. Martin met with Christ himself personally and he wants us to come along and meet him too and come closer and trust him more and press on yet further to adore him more And they say, they say he's hard to read. I sometimes don't, I shouldn't have even told you that. Cause now you're thinking of it. If you've read, if you've read anything of John Owen, just a little sample of Owen and you can understand anything of him, then Hugh Martin's not hard, but they say the reward. is that once you have followed Hugh Martin's gaze to take in this detail or that panoramic view of the truth as it is in Jesus, it leaves its impression powerfully in your mind. It is difficult to unsee what Hugh Martin spotlights for you. That is so true. And by grace, it leads the soul to long for the spiritual eyesight to look more steadily and penetratingly on these glorious truths. And indeed, for the site to be translated into a life of deeper love for and fuller consecration to the glorious Savior. And finally, before we make our way into Hugh himself, I couldn't agree more with this statement. The same biographers say, he was a brilliant theologian and his writings have a combination of fervent devotion, acute logical reasoning, startling originality. That is the word that to me captures Hugh Martin, startling originality and profound scriptural insights. So may the Lord grant us to be caught up with the rapturous views of the glory of Christ as they are put before us by our author himself. And that's what we'll do for the rest of our time is let the man speak for himself. I'll give brief comment here and there when Necessary. So the first book we're going to look at is the atonement, and this one demonstrates more of his his theological brilliance is theological and logical brilliance. If you're gonna nap during any of these three books, this would probably be the one I'll give you a knock knock on the other two that are more warm and devotional come. No, I'm kidding. The atonement. His purpose is stated in the preface. He says, for I have attempted to set aloft in the intelligent and adoring admiration of Christian men, the thorough efficaciousness and boundless glory of the propitiatory sacrifice of Calvary, and to do so if possible in such fashion that the numerous perversions of the doctrine of the cross may give intelligent Christian men little or no trouble. His proposition to be demonstrated in chapter one and throughout the work itself is then stated in chapter one that the doctrine of the atonement ought to be discussed and defended as inside the doctrine of the covenant of grace, the covenant of grace. The atonement makes no sense for us outside of Christ being covenanted to the priesthood on behalf of his people. a people who would be redeemed and united to himself in time and space. Engaging in a polemical tone, he clears the way of certain objections when he asks, do we need an indefinite atonement in order to have a foundation for a universal call? Doesn't a definite atonement in the covenant of grace undermine the universal call? Good question. Martin answers. Four, not to speak of the very obvious consideration that the command of God is sufficient warrants to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Any intellectual difficulty that reverential minds may feel on this point should be allayed, if not indeed removed by observing the relation which the gospel call stands to the covenant of grace. That relation is very intimate. The gospel call comes forth from the covenant and summons sinners into it. It is a voice from within the covenant addressed to those that are without with the view of bringing them within. Its administration is itself one of the stipulations of the covenant. Behold, thou shall call a nation that thou knowest not. And its success is equally guaranteed by the covenant. And nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, for He hath glorified thee. Such is the covenant intercommunion of the Father and the Son concerning the gospel call, stipulating that it shall be given, and that when given it shall not be without success. " End quote. He then further considers the consequences of considering the atoning work of Christ outside of him fulfilling the covenant. What are the consequences of considering an atoning work of Christ outside of him fulfilling a covenant? He says under no other category or instruments than that of compact or fetus that is covenant. Is it possible to bring all the fullness, circumstance, detail, history, order, and fruit of his work? It explains all Christ's history as the incarnate Son of God, all His interposition as the Savior of men. It embraces alike the impetration of redemption and the application of it. It expounds Christ's complete office and the office and work of the Spirit. It gives doctrinal significance to what were otherwise mere external history. for it places the outward movements of Christ's career on earth in their true relations with the eternal purpose of the Godhead and the eternal destinies of men. And in its completeness, involving as it does its aspects and bearing towards the covenant clients as well as towards the covenant head, it is the formal, definite, tangible instrument and charter by means of which faith comes into sure and pleadable possession of Christ himself and of all the benefits of his redemption. " End quote. He moves from here to the atonement in relation to Christ's priestly office. What is the relation to atonement and his priestly office? And after defining priesthood as being an office in which the priest acts on behalf of men toward God, in his discussion of two chapters in Hebrews, he sums up with these words. He says, While priesthood thus acts in personal relation, in relation to and on behalf of individual persons, and while it acts directly towards God as its object, its primary and immediate acting is offering To act as a priest is to offer. He is ordained for men and things pertaining to God that he may offer, Hebrews 5.1. And again, he ought to offer, Hebrews 5.3. And again, every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices, wherefore it is of necessity that this man have something also to offer, Hebrews 8.3. This then is the action which Christ has taken when he takes action as a priest. He has to offer. He has to offer to God. For all priestly action is Godward. He has to offer for men, in personal relation to and on behalf of individual men, personally and individually. Moreover, the offering is for sins. He ought to offer for sins, Hebrews 5, 2. Not for sin, but sins. Not sin in the abstract, in personally, unrelatedly, and in the general, but sins, actual and individual sins. What sins? What sins but those of the persons for whom He acts as having been ordained for them. Combine these positions, adding the ideas of Christ's spotless personal holiness and of his perpetual intercession. And we have the full doctrine of the priesthood and in and under it, the full doctrine of the atonement, which cannot be separated from it without being shorn of its glory and left almost defenseless. Christ executed the office of a priest in his once offering himself a sacrifice without spot to God to be a reconciliation for the sins of his people and in making continual intercession for them. Priesthood, according to Martin, is specific. It is representative and covenantal. And it is particular again in relation to the nature of the priesthood. Again, he says, but it is not only this motley crowd of miserable substitutes. These are all the erroneous views of the atonement for the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. These, these miserable substitutes for the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, that the first principle of priesthood is fitted to expose and overthrow. It is equally effective in setting aside the theory of universal or indefinite atonement. He says, if the atonement of Christ falls under the category of his priesthood, it is impossible that it can be impersonal, indefinite, unlimited. For the priesthood is not. In order to its very constitution, it pre-requires personal relation, and the same must be true of the atonement, unless the atonement transpires outside the limits and actings and conditions of priesthood, which it can't. The priesthood is for men and for sins, not for mankind in the general, but for men, particular men, and not for sin in the general, but for sins, particular sins. The personal relation of the priest is a relation to particular persons with a special reference to their particular sins. Or more briefly, it is a relation to these persons considered as sinners. A general reference or relation is out of the question." End quote. He'll go on to state the absurdity of general priesthood in consideration of Levitical priesthood. The Levitical priesthood was perfectly effective. It affected what it set out to do immediately on behalf of the persons. And if Christ is not of such a nature, then Christ is inferior to Levi. Do you see how that works? This is not the case, though it is effective and further effective, not just to one nation, but to all nations and peoples of every tribe, tongue and nation. The priesthood of Christ is superior to that of the Levitical priesthood. We'll conclude with just a few excerpts from considering whether Christ was active or passive on the cross and quote, he says. I refuse to believe in the cross of Christ as a mere passive endurance. It was his duty to die, and he discharged his duty. It never was any other man's duty to die. Therefore, do not rob him of a glory all his own. It is appointed unto all men once to die, appointed as a destiny never to save him as a duty, or never save to him as a duty. It is indeed our duty to endure death with faith and patience. But it is the patience, the faith that is in our case, the duty, not the death. Death cannot be our duty. We do not act in dying. We are acted on and we endure it. Christ acted in dying. It was his duty to die, his official duty. Official action was in its priestly agency. He dismissed the spirit. He gave himself. Herein is His love. Herein also is His power. Herein the triumph and transcendent glory of His victory over death. He is an unquelled, unconquered, conquering agent in offering Himself up to God. If you leave off His active role, then you cannot glory in the cross, He says. Nor teach the church of God to glory in it. You leave the glory of Christ's triumph and the evidence of Christ's love deep buried in the shame of Calvary and in the grave of Golgotha. And it is not any glory in the resurrection that can, in this case, reflect back upon the cross and light it up with glory not originally and intrinsically there. Do you see that? If he died a mere passive victim, he did not die a victor. but he died a triumphant agent. He prevailed against death to live until he said, "'Tis finished,' and then to die not merely voluntarily, but by positive priestly action, giving himself to God." After forcefully arguing that Christ is active in priestly duty in his death, he takes to Scripture evidence, Isaiah 53, 12. Ephesians 5.25, Galatians 2.20 saying, I'll quote him, he gave himself up, gave himself for the church, gave himself for me. That concludes our time in the atonement. And now on to the shadow of Calvary, Gesmain, the arrest, the trial. And in this book, he follows the narrative leading up to the crucifixion. Um, he really is extending what he's considered in the atonement and that Christ was as covenant head fulfilling the work he came to do. But all the while in this balancing some very, I guess you would say slippery, but glorious passages on the person of Christ. Um, Truman says this is classical Christology preached in a manner which does justice to the drama of the biblical narrative and to the experience of Christ. We'll give our attention first to chapter four, failing fellow watchers is the title of the chapter. And he's considering Matthew 26, 40 and quote, what could you not watch with me one hour and Martin. The sin of the disciples was aggravated by this consideration that Jesus had reposed great confidence in them. He had selected them from a whole nation to be his special followers and companions. He had admitted them to a sacred familiarity and intimacy which has almost made them the objects of holy envy, if the expression might be used, in all ages since. And now this excellent description of the gospel from Martin. He says how beautiful it is to find every fine feeling of our nature seized upon and sanctified and impressed into action by the gospel. That glorious gospel of the grace of God finds the sinner not trustworthy at all towards God. an apostate, an enemy, a traitor, and it slays his enmity, reverses his apostasy, sweeps away all his treachery and guile, transforms him into a trusty and loyal child of honor, simply by at once reposing in him the highest confidence. It finds him bankrupt, dishonorably so, destitute, his character broken, his credit gone. And it gives him a character by giving him some of the jewels of the crown royal of heaven to keep. It gives him freely in his unworthiness and untrustworthiness. a plenary forgiveness of all his sins and a rich reconciliation to his offended father in heaven and hopes that he will not abuse a mercy so large and liberal. It gives him free access to the great covenant treasure chest of the unsearchable riches of Christ and hopes that he will never spend them on his lusts or sin that grace may abound. He goes on to talk about watching with him as fellowship with him. He says, what? Could you not watch with me for one hour? If this doesn't motivate or rather stir you with love and affection to pray, dear brothers and sisters, what will? Consider the brilliant way that he turns this simple text into application for us. What? Could ye not watch with me one hour, when it is to be with me in my company, not alone, not in your own cause or battle, not in your own skill nor your own strength, but in every sense with me? When your watching is to be an act, a trying act it may be, but still an act of fellowship with me. I shall myself be your leader, your prototype, your forerunner in the battle. the wakeful, prayerful battle of temptation. In all your afflictions, myself afflicted. In all points, tempted like as you are, suffering and being tempted. And when you watch with me, you shall triumph if I triumph. If you suffer with me, you shall also reign. Yes, this is the singular secret of the Christian success in all things. He is in all things with Christ. He links on by faith his very temptations with those of Christ, and finds therefore all the victory of Christ his own. He watches with Christ, and then in his blindness, Christ is eyes to him in the wilderness. He prays with Christ, and Christ is intercessor and merit for him in his unworthiness. The watchings and the prayers of Christ in the days of his flesh are not only his example, but his inheritance. And he has more than the disciples could have then asked or thought. He has on his side the vigilance of Israel's shepherd now watching in the power of an endless life. He has the intercession of one who has laid aside his tears and agonies and bespeaks his people's welfare in glorious and august states at the right hand of the majesty in the heavens. And he says, in terms of this prayer, he says, there's nothing There's nothing new in this prayer, nothing new in the sense of difference. He says that we are so prone to call for, right? We want some new and great way to win the spiritual battle, don't we? But new in the sense of no new commandment I give you, but a fresh in light of your current experience, perhaps in your current backslidden experience. New in that sense, but the same old prayer. In quoting Martin, he says, and there is a lesson in this. For in the decay or slumber of your Christian life, it is not something new that is to revive you, not some novel doctrine, not some unheard of or lately discovered Christian exhortation, not some singular and striking advice, prescribing some royal road different from that in which the usual footsteps of the flock are marked, not prescribing even any means or method of revival hitherto unknown to yourself. No, there is a great snare hid under any such expectation as that. You are to stand in the beaten path and inquire for the good old ways you trod before if you would find reinvigorating grace and rest unto your soul." What he's saying there is just simply watch and pray. You need nothing more than that. He blends together watching and praying as we conclude our time in this book. He says, thus, watch and pray. doing both, yea, more, not combining, but blending them. Pray to be enabled to watch. Watch that you may know what to pray for. Pray for the grace of vigilance. Watch for materials of prayer. Watch that you may know temptation by its mere presence and pray to be preserved from knowing it in its successful power. Pray that your eyes may be purged from dimness and anointed with thyself so that you may see afar off and may discern good and evil. And then watch with keen and piercing eye that you may see the answers to prayer. Watch the efficacy of prayer. Pray for success in watching. Watch if you would be on the alert to pray. Pray that you may be kept alert upon your watchtower. The enemy is subtle. You must watch his movements. You yourself are weak. You must pray for strength. If you could keep yourself, it might be sufficient to watch. But as God only can keep you, you must join prayer with watchfulness. If God would keep you any otherwise than by strengthening and guiding you to keep yourself, it might be sufficient to pray. But as it is, you must combine watchfulness with prayer, watching for your salvation with fear and trembling, the Lord working in you and enabling you to watch of his good pleasure. Thus, he persuaded both to watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. Such is the blessed exhortation which Jesus graciously gives even when he comes to reprove and rebuke his disciples. And he concludes this chapter by saying the rebuke in this text was for spiritual men. He says that they were indeed spiritual men, true believers and faithful brethren Jesus took for granted, both in rebuking and in exhorting them. And He framed His rebuke and exhortation accordingly. But for this, but for the Spirit being willing, He would have expressed neither wonder nor indignation at their want of vigilance. The very point of reproof, what could you not watch with me one hour, lay in the fact that He was addressing spiritual and willing men. Psalm 110, 3. Men renewed in their wills or in the spirit of their minds, such a reproof would have been out of place to a worldly or unrenewed heart. And the exhortation as well as the reproof proceeds upon the same consideration. It is not at all suitable and is not addressed in the first instance to the unconverted. To you, to the unconverted, Christ's first address is not watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. Ye have never been out of temptation nor out of sin. You are in the flesh and dead in sin. His first searching question and rebuke to you is, what, will you die? And his first exhortations are like these, flee from the wrath to come. Come out from among them and be ye separate and touch not anything unclean. Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead. Repent and believe the gospel. There can be no watchfulness in the spiritually blind, no prayer against temptation in the spiritually dead. We'll conclude our time here with the abiding presence. And this is by far and away my favorite book, and it's the one I commend to you above all, first and foremost. The abiding presence or falling under the other title Christ's presence in the gospel history. In the Gospels, the gist of it is in the Gospels, Christ is really personally and consistently present by his spirit to the eyes of faith. To the eyes of faith, these are not mere accounts of history, but also a present reality. And the first consideration, this wonderful paragraph is, give me his biography alone. Give me his biography alone. It is full of marvels. It is interesting beyond measure. I read and reread, and if I render it the tribute of my unbelief, I feel as if, if I render it the tribute of my belief, I feel as if I could never have enough of it. But if this is all, I feel also that I am dealing merely with a history, a record of what is long past and gone, of events that are very interesting in themselves, but in which I can assert or make out no direct, personal, present interest of mine. I may envy those who actually listened to His gracious words or saw the glorious works of power and mercy here recorded. And very specially, I may envy those to whom testimonies or messages of personal love were delivered, or on whom deeds of healing virtue and of sanctifying grace were achieved. Oh, would that I had been there! Thou Friend of Grace, Thou King of Glory, will that also may be clean. Command this evil spirit, this strong corruption to come out of me and enter into me no more. This also I would that thou shouldst do unto me, even that I may receive my sight. Blessed Master, question me also, as with thy searching loving eye, thy piercing tender voice, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? And enable me also to say unto thee, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee. At last, It is but a fond imagination. It is but the keen and quickened action of the fancy. At the best, I can only form a very vivid conception of the scene which the record commemorates and delude myself with the pleasing dream that I was there. And as I awake from my dream, I feel painfully that I am alone with a dead history of past in my hands. Give me the biography alone, and the more my heart were adequately moved in reading it, so much the more mournfully would I regret that all these sayings and doings of Jesus are numbered among the things that were. But do not give me the biography alone. Let me have the promised presence. Lo, I am with you always. And I am delivered from all these mournful regrets and from all reasonable ground for entertaining them. Let me by faith realize that he of whom the biography testifies is himself actually with me while I peruse it. Let me in and with the biography possess and enjoy the presence of Jesus. And then the biography is no dead history. serviceable at the utmost as a means of quickening my fancy to conjure up what to me now could be nothing more than an imaginary conjecture, a shadowy unreal scene. Instead, it has become replenished with all the original historical reality of that which it commemorates, instinct with present life and truth, lighted up with fullness of grace and glory. In the biography now, we have the very Christ himself, the living savior, still speaking to us as never man spake, still going about doing good." End quote. And here now the preacher and pastor from the fourth chapter speaking to believer. He says, are you quite at sea in your many fears and sorrows? Are you embarked on a troubled ocean of cares and trials? Has the master constrained you to get into the ship and to go to the other side over against Bethsaida? And the evening being come down and the ship in the midst of the sea and the wind contrary, is the master alone on the land? Are you apt to grudge that he has landed in safety, peace and glory, as if he had forgotten his appointment of a dangerous and stormy voyage for you? Ah, he is looking on. He sees you, toiling and rowing, and now, when your fear is at its height, and your danger imminent, about the fourth watch of the night he comes unto you, treading on the waves and mastering all the tempest. Hark his voice, for lo, even thus also, as on Galilee's lake, he is with you always. Be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid. For parents, he encourages parents to bring their children to Jesus. He says, parents anxious for little ones whom God has graciously given to you. Do you not know to whom to bring them? Or do you say, oh, that I knew where I might find him? Lo, Jesus is with us always, even as in the days of His flesh. Realize Him by faith, as with you still, exactly as His blessed record calls. Bring these little ones unto Him, and as you bring them, does He not defend you against all, even disciples, if they rebuke you? Does He not take your children in His arms, put His hands upon them, and bless them? And again, appealing to his hearers, he says, blind one sitting by the wayside, not seeing your signs, not seeing your path. Hark, lo, I am with you always. And hark again, Jesus of Nazareth passes by. Brother, it is no figure of speech, no pious fancy, no sacred dream, no accommodation of Scripture, no spiritualizing device. It is true. Jesus passes by. Seize your opportunity. Son of David, have mercy on me. Rise then, for he calls you. Hear his gracious question. What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? Can you reply, Lord, that I may receive my sight? Open my eyes that I may behold wonders out of thy law. And Lord, give a sight unto the blind and raiseth up the bowed down. Concerning the galleries of the king, he says it's a principle explained in the preceding chapters be valid. Then, according to our spirituality of mind and the proportion to the vigor and activity of our faith, the narratives of the evangelists are to us the galleries of the King, replete and lighted up with living and presently subsisting revelations of our Lord. For our mental position and our privilege in reading these narratives are, in that case, entirely different, different not in degree merely, But in nature or kind, from what we experience in reading other histories, we do not reproduce the incidents to our mind's eye by a mere effort of imagination or represent our Lord to ourselves. He presents himself to us, a very specific and quite unique phenomenon, if I may say so. not by an effort of fancy or conception put forth by us, but as a very reality, spiritual indeed, but not on that account less glorious, surely rather more so. As a very reality achieved by Him, we are present with our Lord. He with us by His Spirit and Word. We with Him by responsive faith, responsive to the Word and Spirit in every scene which the Word still mirrors and the Spirit fills with the Savior's presence. Does not God in very deed still dwell with men upon the earth? And is it not Emmanuel who does so, God with us? Is it not the Word made flesh that tabernacles among us, that we may behold His glory? The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And has He not ascended far above all heavens? Not in order to evacuate His name, Emmanuel, but to fill all things with Himself. And shall he not fill his own gospels with his presence, these galleries of the king with his glory, shall they not have one might almost say a preferential claim, assuredly anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows and sharing with every one of them that unction, even his own spirits by whom he fulfills the promise. Lo, I am with you always. The king may be found at all times in these ivory palaces, where his garments smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia. And it is your privilege to be with him there, O fair queen in gold of Ophir. You shall be brought unto him in raiment of needlework. You shall enter into the king's palace. Psalm 45, 7 to 15. Let me have faith's key, he says, to these galleries, these ivory palaces of the king. In what living scenes of grace and glory may I not witness? What voices of majesty, authority, and love may I not hear? What opportunities of beholding the beauty of the Lord and inquiring in his temple may I not enjoy? End quote. And to conclude our time here, His advice from this work to the one weighed down and weary with the comfortless promises of the world in the flesh, he says, are you often weary in a weary world, weary of your body of sin and death, weary of your many infirmities, weary of your little progress, forced to look now for your only satisfaction to the heavenly rest that remaineth. Oh, the blessedness of having in the meantime the presence and biography of your Lord come often. When weary and troubled and lonely in spirit, come and meet the Lord, even now in these galleries where the king still goes with his followers. And as faith casts out the element of time since his first coming, let it cast out also the interval until his second. Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. He says, let faith destroy that interval. Let faith make no account of it, rising above its separating influence, rising above time and space and asserting its high prerogative to see the things that are unseen, to embrace already the future and eternal. Let faith hear Jesus saying, behold, I come quickly, and let faith and hope reply, amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus. So what do we do now? How do we conclude? Well, simply the phrase tolle lege. Take up and read. Take up and read Martin for yourself is my encouragement. Let him bring you along in these wonderful views of his and our exalted Savior, of our almighty, conquering, gracious, wise and risen Lord Jesus Christ. Please pray with me. Our Father in heaven, we thank you, Lord, for this time to consider Hugh Martin and the gospel that you gave to him, that you entrusted to him, and that even in the midst of weakness, of seeming failure. Lord, you have done mighty things through him. I pray that you would bless us as we just consider these things that we've heard from him and also the word that we've heard earlier from Pastor Noah. Bless us now as we enter into fellowship and enjoy a meal together. Just give us a great time of love and unity. We pray all this in Jesus name. Amen.