Indictment of God

The point: Take the accusation of 'moralistic preaching' and hurl it into the teeth of those who make it with 1 Corinthians 10:11, for Paul has given warrant for it.

Martin uses Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 10:11 to defend the application of Old Testament narratives to contemporary Christian living, asserting that such 'moralistic preaching' is apostolically warranted.

Thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the devoted thing from among you. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 11, the Apostle Paul gives us a very instructive word for the understanding of the passage which is before us. Having recorded an incident from the history of the nation of Israel, he says, These things are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the age are come, and are given to us for an example. And he says, In other words, the apostolic authority stands behind the use we are making of this passage. Namely, understanding this history not only as fa...

4:34 - 6:00 Read in full sermon

The point: Every crisis in our lives and in our congregation is a summons from heaven to seek the face of the living God through special, concerted, importunate prayer, and even fasting and public humiliation.

Martin explains that while God may occasionally surprise us with a word, His most pointed words usually come in the context of fervent seeking of His face, like Joshua's pleading.

And the Lord said unto Joshua, When the man of God cries upon his God, it is not long before that God, will speak to the man of God that word necessary in the circumstance in which he calls upon him. And there is a very vital principle at the outset before we even break down the exposition of the paragraph. And the principle is this, that though God may occasionally send his Nathans to us, when we least expect a word from heaven, though God may occasionally surprise us by thundering a word from heaven, when we have been in our lowest level of spiritual dullness and stupidity, it is not his nor...

11:07 - 12:21 Read in full sermon

The point: Beware of all activity which is not rooted in fervent, persistent, believing prayer.

He contrasts Joshua's immediate reflex to fall on his face with the common human tendency to maintain a 'stiff upper lip' and analyze problems carnally rather than seeking God in humiliation.

Now you see, our perpetual danger is to stay upon our feet and never fall upon our faces when we ought to. We love to demonstrate the stiff upper lip, spiritually speaking. And though God hedges up our way with ones, we simply take the simple attitude, well, and so you take the bitter with the good, and you win some, you lose some, and we take an attitude, to the disciplines of God that are hedging us up to seek the face of God. If we were Joshua, no doubt our response would have been when we heard about the soldiers turning their backs upon the men of Ai.

17:28 - 18:13 Read in full sermon

The point: Beware of all prayer which does not prepare for and spontaneously lead to obedience to the revealed will of God.

Martin warns that people can use prayer as a substitute for obedience to difficult tasks God lays upon them, just as Joshua had a 'nasty task' to perform.

Just as our danger is to act having not prayed and to move out and in carnal wisdom. So there are times when we are so corrupt in the deception of our hearts that we'll use prayer as a substitute for obedience to some nasty task that God lays upon us.

21:10 - 21:31 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: God rebukes Joshua for the unbelief mingled in his prayer, questioning God's goodness and wisdom. Martin emphasizes that God's response, though containing judgment, is also a…

He expresses amazement that the eternal, holy God who governs galaxies would hear the 'whimpering cries' of sinful humans, even when mixed with unbelief.

And my friends, nowhere in the scripture is that fact ever viewed in any other light than one of amazement. We get so accustomed to lifting our hearts up in prayer, spontaneously through the day, formally when we bow to pray, that we often lose the sense of amazement. Think of it. The God who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy, who governs the mighty galaxies that he's created, who holds all things in its proper place.

25:19 - 25:53 Read in full sermon

The point: Whenever we are prompted to put a question mark over the love, faithfulness, wisdom, or power of God, we must treat that thought like the devil himself.

Martin suggests that corporate 'defeats' (like the church's struggle for land) can be God's means of grace to expose hidden sins from past 'victories' (like the conquest of Jericho).

Joshua did not know that the victory of Ai was a victory. As far as he knew, it was a victory unmixed with sin and the part of his people. And the conquest of Ai was ordered out of the darkness and into the light where it could be dealt with. And I wonder, as I've been meditating and as I've been praying, as elders we've been thinking and praying for light and direction at this critical time, could it be that in the conquest of our Jerichos and God has given us our Jerichos, some of us who've been in this work from the beginning, we know what those Jerichos have been. When God has done things ...

29:53 - 31:09 Read in full sermon

Driving home: In the majority of cases, not always, but in the majority of cases, all of the impasses, all of the frustrations, all of the defeats of any given local assembly, all of the church at large can be traced to this simple in…

He critiques modern denominations for forming committees to analyze problems of impotence instead of engaging in corporate fasting, prayer, and confession of sin, contrasting it with a bygone era.

The history of the church is the history of this indictment going unheeded. Whole denominations as well as individual churches have begun to see themselves impotent to accomplish the purposes of their Joshua the Lord Jesus, who has commanded us to take the message to every creature, to plant churches in every land, who has commanded us in his name to see disciples made amongst all the nations. And when the church is impotent, and she lacks power even to have any genuine enthusiasm of reality, of evangelistic aggressiveness, what happens? Well, the denominations establish committees to examine ...

36:57 - 37:56 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: God formally indicts Israel with a general statement, 'Israel hath sinned,' asserting that corporate impasses and defeats are primarily due to the people's disobedience, not God's…

Martin references Horatius Bonar's 'Words to Winners of Souls' to illustrate a historical example of ministers in the Church of Scotland engaging in corporate fasting, prayer, and confession of ministerial sins when facing spiritual decline.

You want your heart thoroughly humbled and plowed, you read the little book by Horatius Bonar called Words to Winners of Souls, and contained in that masterful little treatise, particularly directed to preachers, is the account of what happened when the ministers of the Church of Scotland came together on a given occasion, looking over and surveying the entire impact, the impact of the Church. They saw that they had known better days. That there was not the power attending the preaching. There was not the aggressiveness attending their evangelism.

38:06 - 38:39 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: God formally indicts Israel with a general statement, 'Israel hath sinned,' asserting that corporate impasses and defeats are primarily due to the people's disobedience, not God's…

He reminds his own congregation of their early days as a 'despised little bunch of break-offs,' when they were 'little in thine own eyes' and more readily fell on their faces before God, warning against pride.

It can happen to Trinity Baptist Church! And it'll happen when we begin to get too big for our britches. It was a blessed thing when we were a despised little bunch of, quote, break-offs from a church splint. Ah, that'll put some hooks in your flesh.

39:24 - 39:44 Read in full sermon

The point: If you gather as God's people, professing holiness, but tolerate a 'darling Babylonish garment' in your heart, you are guilty of 'bald face lying' and dissembling before God.

Martin draws a parallel between Achan's dissembling and the sin of Ananias and Sapphira, highlighting the danger of appearing holy while harboring hidden sin and lying to the Holy Spirit.

Second question has everything devoted to destruction been burned? One of the captains speaks and says yes Joshua all the men under my charge yes the torches have struck everything in Jericho all is burned and all is burned and they came to the group in which Achan was and he joined in the chorus all is burned all is burned all is burned all is burned there was opportunity for Achan to come clean but he dissembled willful calculated deliberate bald face deception dissembled there's a liar in the is what God is saying and you see Achan was spiritually the great grandfather of Ananias and Sapphi...

55:36 - 57:06 Read in full sermon

The point: You will not deal with your 'Babylonish garments' until you start viewing them as God does: covenant-breaking, stealing, lying, and hiding it amongst the stuff of your own heart.

He uses the analogy of a doctor convincing a patient of the necessity of amputation for physical well-being to illustrate that people will not deal with their 'Babylonish garments' until they view their sin as seriously as God does.

right along and blunt extenuated the guilt shifted responsibility but oh God I now view my sin as you do my friend your Babylonish garments some of which have found a very special place in the tent flaps of your heart are never going to go until you start viewing them as God does covenant breaking taking the accursed stealing lying lying and hiding it amongst the stuff of your own heart no doctor can ever take the leg off a patient willingly till first of all he's convinced the patient that amputation is necessary for his physical well-being no man ever went in with a little pain in his knee t...

62:59 - 64:28 Read in full sermon

The point: Stop giving polite names to your sins (e.g., 'volatile temperament' for anger, 'metabolism' for gluttony, 'genes/hormones' for lust) and call them what God does, or you will never know the purging of that sin.

Martin gives examples of how people give 'polite names' to their sins ('volatile temperament' for anger, 'metabolism' for gluttony, 'genes/hormones' for lust) instead of calling them what God does, which hinders true mortification.

no it's your fleshly carnal anger well it's my metabolism no it's your gluttony it's your gluttony it produces your rolls of blubber stop calling it your blubber it's your metabolism you're breaking covenant with that God who came to deliver you from gluttony and your lustful thoughts oh it's just my just my genes just my hormones no it's your lasciviousness it's a Babylonish garment that's got to be consumed by mortification oh we're clever at giving polite names to our Babylonish garments aren't we my friend you better start calling them what God does or you're never going to live to know th...

64:28 - 65:57 Read in full sermon