Three Words of Consolation

In this part of the sermon: Pastor Martin begins by explaining his physical condition and then reads 2 Timothy 3:14-17, asserting the absolute sufficiency of God-breathed Scripture for all aspects of…

Martin explains he is wearing an arm sling due to strict doctor's orders after surgery, treating it as God's will to avoid undoing the procedure. This sets a personal, vulnerable tone and models obedience.

Now again, lest any mind be unnecessarily distracted, I'm only wearing this because the doctor's orders were very strict to me. Right now, everything's being held together in there by tenuous sutures, and until all the tissues bind to one another, I must not do anything that would undo two and a half hours of surgery. And so I treat doctor's orders in matters like that as the revelation of the will of God, and for me not to obey it would be sin, for therefore to him who knows to do good does it not, it is sin. So just bear with me, it's enough distraction for me being left-handed and doing so ...

0:03 - 1:15 Read in full sermon

Driving home: What a crisis is, is a powerful hand that lays hold of all the blankets by which we cover who and what we really are. And it lays bare the real...

A crisis is described as a powerful hand that pulls off the blankets covering who and what we really are, laying bare our true spiritual state. This metaphor explains how crises reveal character rather than create it.

That a crisis creates nothing in your life, nothing in the life of this church. What a crisis is, is a powerful hand that lays hold of all the blankets by which we cover who and what we really are. And it lays bare the real...

12:14 - 12:34 Read in full sermon

Driving home: What a crisis is, is a powerful hand that lays hold of all the blankets by which we cover who and what we really are. And it lays bare the real...

The story of Job losing his children and goods is used as an example of a crisis laying bare his true worship of God for who He is, not just for His blessings, silencing the devil's accusations.

That's what a crisis does. You see, when Job is told in one day, you've lost your kids, you've lost all your goods, everything's gone. What did that crisis do? It laid bare who Job really was.

12:36 - 12:54 Read in full sermon

The point: Affirm God's absolute sovereignty in all circumstances, without adding parentheses or asterisks to His control, especially during leadership transitions.

Nebuchadnezzar's humbling and subsequent confession in Daniel 4:35 is cited as an example of God's difficult classroom teaching His absolute sovereignty, which no one can withstand.

And we had to struggle to come back again and have that needle of the sword, the soul pointing fixedly northward. Our God is utterly, unquestionably sovereign in all His ways and in all of His works. We find ourselves coming back to those words that God had in a very difficult classroom to wring out of the mouth and heart of old Nebuchadnezzar, to make him like a beast of the field until when his sanity returned he cried out in Daniel 4, 35, that this is the God. None can withstand His will.

21:08 - 21:48 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second word of consolation is that Jesus Christ abides with His people in the unfailing sufficiency of His grace. He illustrates this with the disciples in the storm, Paul in…

Martin recounts receiving his cancer diagnosis on the same day he had read Mark 6 (Jesus walking on water), finding immense comfort in Jesus' words, 'It is I, be not afraid,' as a personal assurance of Christ's abiding presence.

Be not afraid. Jesus enters into the boat, and the wind ceases. And they are sore amazed. I imagine this passage came to me because in my regular devotional reading, this was the passage I had read the morning I got the positive diagnosis that I had cancer.

26:24 - 26:45 Read in full sermon

The point: Believe that nothing of God leaves when a man of God leaves, and any carnal nervousness is a denial of this belief.

Martin quotes A.W. Tozer's statement, 'Nothing of God dies when a man of God dies,' in the context of Joshua 1, to emphasize that God's work continues regardless of human leadership changes.

And I can never forget when I read for the first time A.W. Tozer's comments on this passage. And he said these words, Nothing of God dies when a man of God dies.

30:45 - 31:01 Read in full sermon

The point: Believe that nothing of God leaves when a man of God leaves, and any carnal nervousness is a denial of this belief.

Martin shares a conversation with Pastor Bob Carr, who is stepping down due to illness, comforting him with the truth that his fundamental identity is in Christ, not in his pastoral function, preparing him for the transition.

My fundamental identity as a believer is what I am in Christ. I had occasion this week to comfort my dear brother Bob Carr with that truth. He called and we talked at length about his situation. For you visiting among us, a very useful, able pastor for some close to 20 years and through...

33:20 - 33:41 Read in full sermon

The point: Believe that nothing of God leaves when a man of God leaves, and any carnal nervousness is a denial of this belief.

Martin reflects on the possibility of a mini-stroke rendering him unable to speak coherently, using it as a personal test of whether his identity is truly in Christ or in his ability to preach.

Nothing has changed. I tell myself that periodically. One little blood vessel in my brain with a mini-stroke and I could wake up the next day

34:12 - 34:22 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The third word of consolation is that the Holy Spirit is still active in equipping men with the graces and gifts essential for competent pastoral leadership. Martin expounds on…

Martin describes seeking counsel from his 'seven mighty men' (friends with 215 years of combined friendship) regarding his decision to step down, illustrating the principle of sober self-assessment being validated by the body of Christ.

It don't got the stuff to organize thought and frame words. The body is the control, the quality control upon the assessment of all the members. This is why I said in these conclusions I have come to that I announced on Wednesday night, I didn't come to them sitting on a rock somewhere looking at the moon, sought the input of men, I call them my seven mighty men, and when I totaled up some months ago the investment of years, it's an investment of 215 years of intimate friendship with these seven men. My brother, help me, help me, here's where I think I should be going, what I should be, be hon...

41:51 - 42:56 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The third word of consolation is that the Holy Spirit is still active in equipping men with the graces and gifts essential for competent pastoral leadership. Martin expounds on…

The steadfastness of Stonewall Jackson in battle is used as an analogy for the kind of emotionally stable, peaceful, and courageous leaders the Holy Spirit produces, even amidst church tumult.

For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Joy when he must stand before his people, having left his wife on a deathbed, and doesn't come with the pallor of death on his face and in his voice and in his demeanor, but can stand before you, expressing joy in the Holy Spirit. Love, joy, peace, peace, quietness of spirit, tumult in his family, perhaps tumult in the church, but you never sense he's nervously running around biting his nails. But you look at that man in the crisis and you say, ah, God can give grace. It's like old Jackson....

49:48 - 50:50 Read in full sermon

The point: Allow the understanding of the Triune God's faithfulness to lead to a fresh impetus to praise and prayer.

Martin recounts the desperate state of Trinity Baptist Church (then in North Caldwell) after losing two pastors, and how God called him, a 28-year-old shoveling cow dung, to lead them, illustrating God's unexpected providence and faithfulness.

Literally, folks, a pastor friend of mine was in a church planning endeavor and they bought a Catholic retreat center that had a barn and they wanted to turn the basement into a youth center and they had a bullpen. I mean the real kind, not the kind of Yankee Stadium where you throw baseballs, where the bulls were kept. And there was dried dung on the floor an inch and a half to two inches thick. And you can't put tile over dried dung.

55:48 - 56:13 Read in full sermon

Driving home: You mean believing God is not realistic? Having your thoughts shaped by the Bible is not realistic? Believing that your Heavenly Father knows your needs better than you do is not realistic?

Martin shares his personal story of praying for a wife after Marilyn's death, detailing his specific 'shopping list' and God's miraculous provision of Dorothy at age 71, as a powerful testimony against unbelief and for God's faithfulness in seemingly impossible situations.

That God is committed to the care of His church. And we need, by the grace of God, to encourage one another. You see, if I did anything else, I'd not only be denying all my experience as a Christian for 54 years, but as usual, I can find a way to get my Dorothy in, legitimately. Eight months ago, when God began to heal the wound of my heart, my grief at the loss of my dear Marilyn, enough to begin to come to grips with the fact I was not meant to live alone, and I began to say, Oh, God, help me to get clear in my mind what I must look for in a wife before there's any twitching of my affections...

63:12 - 63:57 Read in full sermon