Operations of The Holy Spirit in Preaching #2

In this part of the sermon: Martin reviews the previous sermon's points on the necessity and manifestations of the Holy Spirit's agency in preaching, adding a fourth manifestation: a heightened sense of…

Describes the heightened persuasion of Scripture's authority felt by a preacher, making him feel powerful and ready to confront anything with the 'sword of the Spirit'.

And I think the whole doctrine that is so clearly articulated in our confession, with respect to the way we know the Scriptures to be the Word of God, it is not by the supporting evidences, but by the ministry of the Spirit attesting to that reality in our hearts. What is true of the average believer, with respect to his confidence that this is the Word of God, comes in a heightened way to the preacher in the act of preaching. Surely you have felt, as I feel at times, 40 feet tall with a sword, 60 feet in width, and you feel you could take on anyone and anything with that sword of the Spirit. ...

1:54 - 2:48 Read in full sermon

The point: Acknowledge and reckon with discernible patterns for restrained or diminished Spirit's agency in your own preaching.

Compares a preacher whose Spirit's agency is diminished to Samson, who went forth to war not knowing the Spirit had left him.

Like Samson, they've gone forth to war and wish not that the Spirit has left them. So that's the sense in which I'm using the two words restrained and diminished. And the necessary qualification is this. Some of these things of the restraining and the diminishing of the Spirit's immediate agency and operations upon a preacher in the act of preaching can only be resolved in the matter of the mysterious, inscrutable, but absolute sovereignty of God.

4:36 - 5:11 Read in full sermon

The point: Treasure, earnestly seek, believingly expect, and jealously guard the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in your preaching.

Illustrates the sovereign, extraordinary operations of the Spirit, even on an animal or an ungodly man, to show that God can work outside ordinary means, but this is not the norm for preachers.

because the necessity for the Spirit's immediate agency and operations are not regarded as indispensable by the preacher himself. This ministry of the Spirit, in conjunction with the act of preaching, can be restrained or diminished when the preacher himself does not regard that dimension of the Spirit's ministry as absolutely essential. Now, we know from our Bibles that the Spirit can come sovereignly even upon a dumb ass, and so operate upon Balaam's ass, its lips, its tongue, its vocal apparatus, that it can speak the very word of the living God. I'm fully aware of that. Saul can be meander...

7:10 - 8:16 Read in full sermon

The point: Treasure, earnestly seek, believingly expect, and jealously guard the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in your preaching.

Describes the unfruitful ministry of a man cursed for trusting in himself, echoing Jeremiah 17.

of carnal self-confidence which puts them under a dimension of God's curse rather than blessing. One of the passages that has been a lifetime companion with me in conjunction with preaching is Jeremiah 17, Jeremiah 17, 5 to 9. Cursed be the man that trusts in man and makes flesh his arm and whose heart departs from the Lord. And God goes on to describe him in graphic terms like a parched out, burned out, blasted, unfruitful field.

9:44 - 10:19 Read in full sermon

The point: Engage in specific, focused prayer for the Holy Spirit's immediate agency in your preaching, taking Luke 11:13 at face value.

Martin shares his personal practice of praying for his friend Gregorio and then singing specific songs to be filled with the Spirit during his drive to church, which he believes has led to a heightened measure of the Spirit's enablement in his ministry.

And I said, Lord, this has got to change. And I began to do something that has become a precious ritual to me. I live about 18, sometimes 20 minutes if I catch the lights, from the church building. And I began every Lord's day morning once I drive by the restaurant that is on the adjacent far end of our property and I pray for the restaurateur, a man that I have a good relationship with and I've made that Sunday morning trip by the restaurant a trigger point to pray for my friend Gregorio.

13:33 - 14:05 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not grieve the Spirit by ethical aberrations and then expect His special assistance in preaching; deal with sin first.

Explains that a grieved Spirit, like a grieved wife, withdraws free operations and openness, though not His indwelling presence.

He says, do not grieve the Holy Spirit for a grieved spirit becomes a restrained or a withdrawn spirit. Not withdrawn as to his indwelling for those in whom he dwells are sealed by his very indwelling. Unto the day of redemption. But grieved and withdraws his free operations the same way when your wife is grieved by your boorishness.

17:59 - 18:29 Read in full sermon

The point: Avoid laziness and carelessness in handling God's truth; do the arduous, painstaking labor necessary to present His truth accurately.

Depicts the Holy Spirit's eager anticipation to glorify Christ through preaching, like someone ready to turn on floodlights, and His grief when sermons lack Christ-centeredness.

If you were asked the Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, what is your most delightful work? He would answer to shine upon the face of God the Son, to make Jesus glorious, to make Jesus precious, to make the work of the Son cherished and loved and appreciated in the hearts of men. And he hovers, as it were, over our pulpits, wringing his hands with expectation, saying, Am I going to be able to do my most delightful work today? Is the preacher going to give me some stuff with which to do my work?

21:30 - 22:12 Read in full sermon

The point: Avoid a carnal and slavish attachment to sermon notes; instead, yield to the unplanned insights and impulses of the Spirit in the act of preaching.

A lengthy quote from Pierre Marcel's 'The Relevance of Preaching' that profoundly impacted Martin, emphasizing the need to allow the Holy Spirit freedom of action in preaching beyond mere preparation.

They acted like a bucket of cold ice water on my face on a snowy day. And they stunned me and they shocked me. And for weeks I carried this quotation folded over in the fly leaf of my Bible and during the offering I would read it and I would have dealings with God concerning it. Listen listen to Pierre Marcel at a section in his treatment of preaching where he's underscoring this thing that I've been preaching about teaching about lecturing about preachers and believers alike must pray that the Spirit who alone can turn the word of man into a word of God may work forcefully from the beginning ...

40:15 - 41:19 Read in full sermon

Driving home: If the preacher is and remains dependent upon his manuscript or upon his memory there is not just one prisoner. There are two. The preacher and the Spirit and through the Spirit Christ himself.

A humorous and pointed quote from Charles Spurgeon, critiquing preachers who pray for the Spirit's help but then slavishly read from a hidden manuscript, implying the Spirit's aid becomes superfluous in the pulpit.

He hides under Spurgeon's skirt like I've been doing. And then he has a most humorous quote from Spurgeon. I do not censure my brother for his mode of preaching but I confess that it seems very odd to me when a brother prays that the Holy Ghost may help him in preaching. Then I see him put his hand behind him and draw out a manuscript out of his back pocket so fashioned that he can place it in the middle of his Bible and read from it without being suspected of doing so.

44:14 - 44:45 Read in full sermon