Prayer Regulated by The Word of God

In this part of the sermon: Further reasons are presented: James 4:3 reveals that indwelling sin can corrupt prayers, making scriptural regulation essential. John 15:7 emphasizes that confidence in prayer is…

Martin uses the analogy of a 'flesh deposit box' to humorously illustrate the impossibility of leaving indwelling corruption outside the prayer closet, emphasizing that sin remains active even in prayer.

Other responses to that question? Alright, Ralph? And then we'll go back to you, Pete. Alright, in other words, do we leave our indwelling corruption outside the door of the prayer closet? Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was some kind of a box there, into which you could deposit all your remaining corruption when you go to pray? And this is called the flesh deposit box. And you just leave the flesh there, and then you go in and pray.

10:30 - 11:36 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not claim such a measure of the Spirit that you no longer need the Word to guide your prayers, as this undermines the Spirit's historical works.

Martin uses the metaphor of the 'incarnation of the Spirit' to describe both the enfleshment of Christ and the inspiration of the written Word, arguing that the Spirit's ongoing work will never undermine these two historical acts.

We say, All right, the Spirit has been given to assist us in prayer, we're commanded, not only in Jude 20, but also in Ephesians 6, 19, to pray with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, praying in the Holy Ghost, Jude verse 20, I think you mentioned. Now, Paul's point is this, How can I, unless I'm guilty, either of gross ignorance or unspeakable audacity think that the Spirit of God will assist me as the promised aid in prayer when I am deliberately ignoring what the same Spirit has written in the Holy Scriptures. You see, that's why true biblical Christianity will never set up any kind...

30:07 - 31:06 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not claim such a measure of the Spirit that you no longer need the Word to guide your prayers, as this undermines the Spirit's historical works.

Martin recounts a conversation with a man who found great delight in praying in tongues for hours without understanding, using this as an example of sub-biblical prayer that detaches the Spirit's work from the Word.

I remember talking to a man who told me of how his prayer time used to be struggle. Of how intercession used to be labor. But he said since I received the baptism with the gift of tongues he said I can pray sometimes now for two or three hours and I just have the most wonderful time. He said I don't have a clue what I'm praying but he said prayer is such a delight now. I just can pray on and on and on and on and on if I'm praying in tongues.

33:20 - 33:48 Read in full sermon

The point: Earnest, sincere Christians must grasp the principle of Word-regulated prayer to avoid falling into fanaticism.

Martin tells the story of three women who disrupted a church prayer meeting with self-aggrandizing, unbiblical prayers, illustrating the dangers of fanaticism that arises when prayer is not regulated by the Word of God.

That's the issue. Is it true? Now we may say it kindly, say it sweetly but ultimately we come back to the issue is it true? And so we dare not relinquish this principle. The moment we do then we've opened the door for every single form of fanaticism and remember some of us had a taste of it here a couple of years ago when those three women showed up at a prayer meeting, remember? Some of you were here and maybe I ought to relate that experience briefly for the benefit of some of the others of you. On our Wednesday night we have an open situation for prayer and three women came in I've never se...

35:19 - 36:15 Read in full sermon

The point: Earnest, sincere Christians must grasp the principle of Word-regulated prayer to avoid falling into fanaticism.

Martin draws a distinction between a hypocrite (concerned with reputation) and a fanatic (consumed by a perspective, sacrificing reputation), arguing that sincere people become fanatics when they lack biblical grounding for their spiritual experiences.

the next brother who prayed wooed the spirit back into the prayer room and they left well what was the problem and I use this just to illustrate this principle well you see these women had fallen into the trap of believing they could be under certain impulses of prayer and they could be spirit that we're totally detached from the clear teaching of the word of God. See? And once you do that, you've opened the door for the worst kind of fanaticism, and it's not insincere people who become fanatics. It's sincere people who become fanatics. Insincere people may become hypocrites, but they generall...

37:43 - 38:36 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The discussion turns to testing the spirits by their testimony of Christ (1 John 4:1-3) and the importance of understanding in prayer, as highlighted by Paul in 1 Corinthians…

Martin uses the phrase 'spiritual thumb-sucking' to describe prayer that prioritizes feeling good over conscious understanding and fruitfulness, contrasting it with Paul's emphasis on understanding in prayer.

Right. Yeah, this is a classic passage on it, where Paul says, I am not concerned for some kind of spiritual thumb-sucking. You know, I feel great. I don't know what's going on, but I feel great.

41:27 - 41:37 Read in full sermon