Holy Spirit–Indispensable to Life of the Church, 2

Driving home: A doctrine has practical value only as it is prominent in our thoughts and makes a difference in our lives.

Martin quotes Tozer's chapter 'The Forgotten One' from 'The Divine Conquest' to highlight the tragic neglect of the Holy Spirit in evangelical churches, contrasting it with the liberal denial of Christ's deity and emphasizing the difference between a formal and a working creed.

because of the stark reality that we may hold a theology which says amen to that which was established last Lord's Day morning. We may hold a theology in our minds which says an unreserved amen to the indispensability of the Spirit to constitute the very being, to be the very life, and the one who endows for ministry any given church. But you see, our theology is a matter of the head and of the study. And if it is to be theology as God intends it should be, it must also become the theology of the heart. And of the sanctuary. Not merely what we believe in the study and in our minds, but what is...

7:39 - 8:50 Read in full sermon

The point: Consciously lift up your heart in prayer during preaching for the Spirit to give light to your mind and unction to the preacher, repudiating confidence in unaided mental faculties.

The analogy of a paraplegic instinctively reaching for crutches is used to illustrate how spiritual dependence on God should become second nature to believers, especially after experiencing barren seasons when relying on self or others.

As you sit under the Word, do you consciously say, O God, come upon the preacher, come upon my mind, O Holy Spirit, author of the book, are you conscious intermittently in the midst of preaching, of lifting up your heart in prayer, that the Spirit will come and give light, that the Spirit will come upon those who stand and minister to you and grant unction and liberty and incisiveness? Do you know what it is to repudiate all confidence in your own unaided mental faculties to receive the Word, and the unaided faculties of the preacher, rightly, to deliver the Word? Do you know what it is to say...

31:07 - 32:36 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second practical evidence is specific, importunate prayer for increased measures of the Spirit's presence and power. Martin uses the parable of the persistent friend in Luke…

The parable of the friend at midnight is expounded to illustrate the kind of 'shameless insistence' and 'importunity' God desires in prayer for the Holy Spirit, emphasizing that the Spirit is indispensable like bread.

And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend? And he shall go to him at midnight and say, Friend, lend me three loaves. For a friend of mine is come to me from a journey and I have nothing to set before him. And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not.

37:28 - 37:43 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second practical evidence is specific, importunate prayer for increased measures of the Spirit's presence and power. Martin uses the parable of the persistent friend in Luke…

Martin shares an anecdote about sleeping arrangements in Pakistani homes to make the setting of the persistent friend parable more vivid and relatable, emphasizing the inconvenience the sleeping friend would face.

Friendship can wear thin when somebody comes at midnight banging on your door begging for bread. And though the bonds of friendship wouldn't get him out of bed and in the Eastern fashion, this was no ruse. This was no stretching the truth to get the guy away. He probably was sleeping on the floor with his kids either side of him.

37:53 - 38:13 Read in full sermon

The point: Pray for the Spirit to make the things of Christ real, to cause hearts to rise in praise, and to bring a felt awareness of God's nearness in prayer.

The analogy of a benefactor offering daily gifts to people in a hovel, but only if they ask, illustrates why God requires us to ask for the Holy Spirit and His blessings, emphasizing that asking fosters communion and acknowledges dependence.

That the Spirit will take of the things of Christ and make them real. That when we seek to express the language of praise the heart will rise with our words and expand with the wonder of God's grace and His goodness to us. And when our brethren who lead us lead us in prayer, the Spirit brings us as it were as a great company of new covenant priests on the wings of His own power into a more intensified, felt awareness of God's nearness in prayer. Do you see how crucial it is that by the grace of God we be a people marked as those who specifically, importunately pray for the Holy Spirit? Do you ...

44:33 - 46:01 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not grieve the Holy Spirit by failing to constantly acknowledge and esteem His person, presence, and power as indispensable, manifesting this by repudiating creature-confidence, constant importunate prayer, and abound…

Martin quotes C.H. Spurgeon's sermon on Ephesians 4:30 to vividly describe the lamentable results of grieving the Holy Spirit, such as loss of power, barrenness in ministry, and the cessation of blessing.

by failure to esteem His person His presence and His power as indispensable to the being, life and ministry of this church and if we are to keep that injunction let us seek to cultivate a disposition of repudiation of all confidence in the arm of flesh a pattern of importunate prayer for the Spirit to be given and then the discipline of consistent praise when He has been graciously granted to us I was interested in reading a sermon of Spurgeon's preached when he was 25 years old there in London it's volume 5 of the New Park Street Pulpit and his last head on a text preaching on a sermon on Eph...

56:49 - 58:18 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not grieve the Holy Spirit by failing to constantly acknowledge and esteem His person, presence, and power as indispensable, manifesting this by repudiating creature-confidence, constant importunate prayer, and abound…

The story of Samson losing his strength when the Spirit departed is used as a poignant example of the consequences of grieving the Spirit, illustrating the weakness, captivity, and blindness that can follow.

there shall be none of that that running without weariness that walking without fainting you'll feel yourself like Samson when his hair was lost weak, captive, and blinded in my Old Testament devotional reading this week I read afresh the story of Samson and I confess without shame when I was done I sat in my reading chair and wept it's one of the saddest stories in the Bible I wept he wist not that the Spirit let the Holy Spirit depart and assurance is gone doubts follow questionings and suspicions are aroused grieve the Spirit and usefulness will cease the ministry shall yield no fruit your ...

58:18 - 59:42 Read in full sermon