Exposure of False God

The point: Read the Scripture not only with your mind active, but with your emotions turned loose, as it were, to follow in the direction that the Spirit of God would lead you. Don't be afraid of your emotions.

Martin encourages reading Scripture not just with the mind but with emotions, comparing it to allowing the Spirit to lead one's emotional life within biblical guidelines, rather than suppressing them.

To the feeling of the passage of Scripture. And as I've often encouraged you, try to read the Scripture, not only with your mind active, but with your emotions turned loose, as it were, to follow in the direction that the Spirit of God would lead you. Don't be afraid of your emotions. Be scared to death of them if you rinse them loose from the guidelines of Scripture.

8:50 - 9:10 Read in full sermon

The point: Read the Scripture not only with your mind active, but with your emotions turned loose, as it were, to follow in the direction that the Spirit of God would lead you. Don't be afraid of your emotions.

Martin argues against a Christianity that ignores emotions, stating that God redeems and sanctifies the emotional structure, linking joy in the Holy Ghost to righteousness.

But I'm scared to death of a Christianity that acts like I'm nothing but head and bone and blood and muscle. I have an emotional structure. And God, in redemption, lays hold of it and sanctifies it. For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.

9:11 - 9:29 Read in full sermon

The point: Read the Scripture not only with your mind active, but with your emotions turned loose, as it were, to follow in the direction that the Spirit of God would lead you. Don't be afraid of your emotions.

Martin describes Elijah's commanding presence, suggesting he acts like a general or king, giving orders to the prophets of Baal, to highlight his authority from God.

And as you read this passage, you get the impression that somebody must have promoted Elijah to general or king of the nation. Here is the nation gathered before him. Probably not all of the individuals, but great representative segments. Even the king and his royal court are here at this scene.

9:48 - 10:05 Read in full sermon

The point: Read the Scripture not only with your mind active, but with your emotions turned loose, as it were, to follow in the direction that the Spirit of God would lead you. Don't be afraid of your emotions.

Elijah's instruction for the Baal prophets to go first 'for ye are many' is described as 'mocking politeness,' emphasizing his confidence and their numerical advantage being irrelevant.

You choose a bullet for yourselves and dress it first. For ye are many. Do you catch something of the mocking politeness of the prophet? Since you people have the advantage of numbers, I'll let you go first.

10:20 - 10:35 Read in full sermon

The point: May God grant that none of us shall go to the judgment, unclothed in the righteousness of Christ, to have that kind of a God take in hand, to back us into the corner with our guilt, until there will be wrung from our own…

Martin compares God's wisdom in directing Elijah to shut up every avenue of excuse for the Baal prophets to a future day when God will similarly expose all human rationalizations and excuses at judgment.

May I say, my dear friend, God's going to do that again in another day. There's a day when every artifice, every winding avenue of excuse and escape and rationality, will come to an end. May I say, my dear friend, God's going to do that again in another day. There's a day when every artifice, every winding avenue of excuse and escape and rationality, will come to an end.

14:09 - 14:23 Read in full sermon

The point: May God grant that none of us shall go to the judgment, unclothed in the righteousness of Christ, to have that kind of a God take in hand, to back us into the corner with our guilt, until there will be wrung from our own…

Martin suggests that the Baal prophets might have believed their own lie after telling it long enough, linking it to God giving men over to delusion as described in 2 Thessalonians 2.

When God raises his hand and says, that right now, the sermon is not to make you wrong, but to the end of your life, Cook Angela of Listeny on the devotional children's church. excess, and they began, perhaps, to believe their own lie. You know, you tell yourself a lie long enough, you actually begin to believe it. And then Scripture says, God gives men over to a spirit of delusion that they will believe a lie, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Now God says, the time

14:29 - 15:09 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The prophets of Baal engage in three hours of repetitive chanting, 'O Baal, hear us,' but their god remains silent and inactive, highlighting the futility of their worship.

Martin contrasts the simplicity of divine revelation with the increasing complexity and appeal to physical senses (eyes, ears, nose) in religions that depart from truth, illustrating it with the Baal prophets' rituals.

took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. Now try to take yourself there to that level spot on the side of Mount Carmel, that flat, notched-out spot, the spot this side, the ascent of which would then overlook the sea, and see these heathen prophets, noted for their fine garments and for their complicated rituals, the more religion departs from the simplicity of divine revelation, the more involved it becomes

15:50 - 16:32 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The prophets of Baal engage in three hours of repetitive chanting, 'O Baal, hear us,' but their god remains silent and inactive, highlighting the futility of their worship.

Martin references Acts 19, where the Ephesians chanted 'Great is Diana' for two hours, to illustrate the hypnotic and repetitive nature of heathen worship, similar to the Baal prophets.

whole crowd had to actually fight a hypnotic state by the mere repetition of that petition over and over and over and over again. Now, for those of us who have no acquaintance with heathenism, it's hard for us to understand that. We read in the book of Acts of a similar situation when Paul came to Ephesus, as recorded in Acts 19. There was this hubbub in the city over the overthrowing of the worship of Diana. It says, for the space of two hours the multitude cried, Great is Diana, God of

18:10 - 18:41 Read in full sermon

Driving home: He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. Have you ever seen a little pipsqueak come up to some big burly guy and get smart with him and stick his tongue out and see the guy look at him and go, oh, come on. That's the …

To illustrate God's divine mockery, Martin uses the analogy of a small person acting smart with a large, burly man, who simply dismisses them, showing God's unperturbed sovereignty.

It says, He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. Have you ever seen a little pipsqueak come up to some big burly guy and get smart with him and stick his tongue out and see the guy look at him and go, oh, come on. That's the picture.

25:23 - 25:36 Read in full sermon

Driving home: He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. Have you ever seen a little pipsqueak come up to some big burly guy and get smart with him and stick his tongue out and see the guy look at him and go, oh, come on. That's the …

Another analogy for divine mockery: a dog yelping at the moon, which remains unaffected, symbolizing God's unshakeable nature despite human rebellion.

Ever see a dog out on a night when there's a full moon, yelping at the moon? You ever see the moon twitch and get nervous?

25:38 - 25:48 Read in full sermon

Driving home: He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. Have you ever seen a little pipsqueak come up to some big burly guy and get smart with him and stick his tongue out and see the guy look at him and go, oh, come on. That's the …

Martin cites Isaiah 44, where the prophet mocks the folly of idol worship by describing a man using the same tree for fire, a crib, and then making a god from the leftovers, highlighting its irrationality.

We find in Isaiah 44, the mockery of the prophet as he's exposing the folly of idol worship. He says, look how foolish. Here a man goes out, cuts a tree, takes some of the wood, and he uses it for fire in his stove, and he cooks his meal. Some of it, he uses to make himself a little crib, and then what he's got left over, he makes himself a little god.

26:26 - 26:46 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Elijah mocks the prophets of Baal, suggesting their god might be musing, withdrawn, on a journey, or asleep. This mockery drives the prophets to even greater frenzied activity.

To explain Elijah's mockery of Baal 'musing' or being wrapped in thought, Martin uses the analogy of parents needing to speak louder to children who are intensely concentrated on an activity.

And for three hours you have been petitioning, but perhaps He is so wrapped up in thought at this point. Could it be the thought of how He is going to vindicate His own name and His own cause before all the people of Israel that you have got to shake Him loose from His mental concentration? We who are parents find we have to do this at times with our children. You say to them, Joel, Joel, Joel.

28:35 - 29:00 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Elijah mocks the prophets of Baal, suggesting their god might be musing, withdrawn, on a journey, or asleep. This mockery drives the prophets to even greater frenzied activity.

Martin suggests Elijah's mockery of Baal 'gone aside' could imply the god is attending to 'nature's necessities,' a crude but effective way to expose the absurdity of a human-like deity.

Scripture does not tell us. It could be the picture of someone withdrawing to work over a particular problem. It could be the picture of someone withdrawing, as was necessary in the days before present sanitation, to take care of nature's necessities. And I would not put it beyond the prophet to use it here.

29:36 - 29:54 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Driven by Elijah's mockery and Baal's continued silence, the prophets cut themselves until blood gushes out and engage in ecstatic 'prophesying,' yet still receive no answer…

Martin quotes Dr. Van Lennep's description of modern dervishes' self-torture, including cutting themselves and piercing their bodies, to illustrate the historical and contemporary practices of frenzied heathen rituals similar to the Baal prophets.

Dr. Van Lennep has the following passage illustrating the self-torture of the Baalitish priest. Quote, Our modern dervishes indulge in these practices only on special occasions as for instance when a procession is organized and proceeds to the suburbs of a town to pray for rain or for deliverance from some public calamity. Then they exhibit some of their fanatical performances calling upon God and cutting themselves with knives and swords so that the blood runs or piercing their almost naked bodies with wooden or iron spikes from which they hang small mirrors.

34:12 - 34:46 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Driven by Elijah's mockery and Baal's continued silence, the prophets cut themselves until blood gushes out and engage in ecstatic 'prophesying,' yet still receive no answer…

Martin describes the 'flagellantes' who whip themselves on feast days, incorporating pagan practices into apostate Romanism, to further illustrate the extreme self-mutilation seen in heathen worship.

They sometimes become so exhausted with pain and the loss of blood as to faint away so that they have to be borne off. Some of you have seen movies of what are called the flagellantes in certain parts of South America who have incorporated pagan practices into an apostate Romanism and on certain feast days they will take their leather straps with the pieces of glass tied at the end and continually whip their backs until their backs are nothing but a mass of pulp and of blood. Why are they doing this? It's obvious they're dead in earnest because their concept of their God was such as to be so f...

34:47 - 35:31 Read in full sermon

The point: The only activities for which we can plead the gracious assistance of the Holy Spirit and the seal of the approval of the God of heaven are those activities which are directed by the precepts and principles and precedenc…

Martin criticizes the 'feverish bail lightish activity' in evangelical churches today, comparing it to a 'three-ring circus' with big-name speakers, musical groups, and gospel clowns, suggesting it's an unauthorized 'show' rather than God-directed worship.

this is not only the rule of faith what we believe but the rule of practice what we do within the church one of the greatest temptations that comes in this day of feverish bail lightish activity in the evangelical church is to try to run a counter show see when you've got a show like this going on to get that crowd you've got to really produce something I mean this show had just about everything then there's a three ring circus and it's sad but that's what's going on right now tonight the three ring circus and many evangelical churches I know there are places I could name people go to their ow...

52:48 - 53:32 Read in full sermon