Immediate Effects

Pastor Martin enters into the moment Christ's voice penetrates the tomb. Eardrums that had registered no sound vibrate. The auditory nerve carries a message to a brain now alive. Lazarus comes forth bound hand and foot. Life precedes movement — but where life is, movement always follows.

Eardrums that could receive no sounds, that registered no message on a dead brain, suddenly those very eardrums begin to vibrate and a message is sent by the auditory nerve, a living nerve to a living brain and a living man hears words, come forth. And the first consciousness he had that life had been given at the level of his subconscious The first consciousness was a command from the Son of God Lazarus, he hears his name, come forth, and he sits up off his slab upon which he was laid, and he begins to walk with two healthy living legs in the direction of the voice that called him from the to...

13:00 - 13:47 Read in full sermon

Pastor Martin imagines Lazarus skipping out of his grave saying, 'Hey, look at me — I made a lovely decision to leave that tomb!' But anyone listening would say, 'You never would have skipped unless life had first been imparted.' Lazarus must credit his coming forth to Christ's quickening voice.

But he could take no credit and go around and click his heels and say, Hey, I walked out of a tomb. You think something about me? Boy, I made a lovely decision to get out of that tomb. Someone says, hey, wait a minute, were you dead?

19:11 - 19:19 Read in full sermon

The point: If you presently believe Jesus is the Christ and rest only in Him, refuse to let anyone shake you with demands for a precise conversion date.

Picture a man standing before a mighty oak with spreading boughs and full foliage. He says, 'No oak tree there.' Why? 'Because there is no plaque telling me when the acorn fell into the ground.' You would call him a fool. So Pastor Martin says of Christians who refuse to believe themselves regenerate without a precise conversion date.

You're snickering. Why? You say, that's stupid. Imagine a man standing in front of a mighty oak, spreading its boughs and all of its foliage.

37:02 - 37:10 Read in full sermon

Driving home: I have no problem saying I know I'm saved. I simply said I don't know when. I don't know when. And frankly, I don't care.

Pastor Martin recalls preaching in Scotland and being accosted by a man who was scandalized that Pastor Martin couldn't say when he was converted. Pastor Martin's reply: 'I have no problem saying I know I'm saved. I simply said I don't know when. I don't know when. And frankly, I don't care.'

They say if you can't point to the time, If you don't know when, I remember being accosted one time preaching in Scotland. Usually, after a while, the Lord helps you to develop a sort of a feeler system, to know when to suddenly be in a hurry to get somewhere else when certain kind of people approach you. And as soon as I was done preaching on 2 Corinthians 5.17 in this particular church in Glasgow several years ago, this man made a peline for me, and I could tell from the look in his eye, he didn't come to learn, he came to be my instructor.

38:37 - 39:09 Read in full sermon

Driving home: I have no problem saying I know I'm saved. I simply said I don't know when. I don't know when. And frankly, I don't care.

Pastor Martin testifies: 'All I know is somewhere between the fall of 1951 and the early spring of 1952, I was a new man in Christ. And it stuck.' He has been in the way for 27 years — not because of anything in himself but because Christ keeps regenerated sinners.

But all I know is somewhere between the fall of 1951 and the early spring of 1952, I was a new man in Christ.

41:17 - 41:28 Read in full sermon

Driving home: You go to hell clinging to your plaque if that's all you've got.

Some people have only a plaque — a date, an aisle walk, a counselor's signature — but no oak tree of developing Christian character. 'You go to hell clinging to your plaque if that's all you've got.' Pastor Martin demands the tree, not the marker.

But there is no oak tree of a developing Christian character. My friend, you go to hell clinging to your plaque if that's all you've got. Some of you have got both an oak tree and a plaque. Some of us just have an oak tree and no plaque.

42:15 - 42:29 Read in full sermon

The point: Pray fervently for the breath of God upon the bones — preaching alone will not regenerate, but God's breath upon preaching will.

God asks Ezekiel, 'Can these bones live?' He answers, 'O Lord, thou knowest.' God commands him to preach to the bones — and as he preaches, the breath of God comes and they stand up a mighty army. So the gospel is preached and God Himself breathes life into the dead.

Why pray? Oh, because God has said that our prayers are somehow bound up in His giving of the Spirit. can these bones live he says to his prophet and the prophet says oh Lord thou knowest then God says a strange thing he says start preaching to the bones well whoever heard of anything so stupid preach into bones they can't laugh they can't cry they can't give you an offering can't do anything preach the bones God says preach And then God summons the breath of the Almighty. Come, O breath of God.

48:04 - 48:45 Read in full sermon