88a) Spiritual Experience #1

Driving home: By the use of this term, I am not referring to an experience, but rather I'm seeking to capture the idea of a man's personal experiential acquaintance with those things which form the very essence of the life of God in t…

Martin notes that 'clear indications' of Christian experience can be seen in various facets like preaching, praying, or interaction, citing examples of academy students who showed unusual perception of inner Christian experience in their early ministry endeavors.

Well, we cannot read, what is in the hearts of men. Whenever we enter this area of the biblical requirements for a duly recognized servant of Christ, we're reminded of the truth that Samuel was reminded of in 1 Samuel 16 and verse 7, that man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks upon the heart. However, since the church, through its appropriate channels, must make a judgment regarding a man's fitness for the office, and since God has not given to us the ability to read men's hearts, then there must be some clear indications of those things related to the realm of Christian experience...

6:51 - 8:17 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Solid food is for full-grown men, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.

Martin shares a personal anecdote of straining at his desk to find the right English words to encapsulate biblical teaching, asking for pity if he sticks to his notes, to convey the difficulty and freshness of his formulation.

Now then, the meaning of the three descriptive words. Enlarged, balanced, and tested. And if you could have seen me sitting at my desk straining my brain to try to encapsulate in a few English words what I believe is the teaching of Scripture, you'll take pity on me if I stick closely to my notes as I say this is all fresh ink. Now, what do I mean by enlarged Christian experience?

8:56 - 9:23 Read in full sermon

The point: Never limit what is said about the pastoral office to simply preaching; remember its central task is shepherding sheep.

Using the metaphor of 'cutting up your own beefsteak' versus 'someone is sticking a bottle in your mouth,' Martin illustrates the difference between spiritual maturity (solid food) and immaturity (milk) in understanding God's word.

And I'd like to go on and quote further his exposition. It's most compelling, I find in my judgment most convincing, but if that passage does not carry your conscience that speaking of enlarged Christian experience is seeking to capture the categories to which John refers, then I trust the Hebrews 5 passage does indeed carry your conscience. What was the problem which the writer to the Hebrews was addressing here in chapter 5 of his epistle? He says, verse 12, For when by reason of the time you ought to be teachers, you ought to have come to sufficient spiritual maturation to be taking others ...

11:52 - 13:19 Read in full sermon

Driving home: No one questions God's dealings with him, but he made God's dealings with him the rule for others.

Martin tells the story of a Southern preacher who, after his own intense conversion experience, became imbalanced, preaching that conversion was suspect unless one underwent a 'Bunyan-like experience' of prolonged spiritual trauma, leading to his views being called 'the cruel doctrine of [his name]-ism.' This illustrates the danger of an imbalanced Christian experience.

I'm referring to the fact that a man's experience is not overloaded and top-heavy in one direction so as to distort his representation of the truth, or to skew his ability to understand the struggles of the people of God to whom he seeks to minister, whether privately or publicly. For example, there was a man in the South who has since gone to glory, who was in the ministry for a number of years preaching, quote, the gospel until the Lord saved him. Well, that man became so imbalanced, feeling that most everyone else that professed to be saved was probably unconverted, preachers included, like...

16:37 - 17:58 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not be hasty to lay hands upon any man, allowing time for the plant to be tested and for the field to be cleared of pride and personal ambition.

Martin uses the analogy of the parable of the sower, specifically the stony ground and thorny ground hearers, to explain how 'tested Christian experience' reveals the true nature of a man's character when tribulation, affliction, persecution, or the cares of the world bear down, showing whether there is true root or if weeds choke the graces.

If it isn't possible that a man can seem to have symmetry of those graces but they are in a Christian character or couched in Christian experience that has not yet been tested Paul said he's disqualified. Now it's in the area of then testing that a man shows whether or not he is in the language of the parable of the sower in the soils a stony ground hearer or a thorny ground hearer it's when the son of tribulation and affliction and persecution and opposition bear down upon the plant that is there upon rocky soil then and only then does it wither and show its true nature. We look at the plant ...

25:00 - 26:04 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not be hasty to lay hands upon any man, allowing time for the plant to be tested and for the field to be cleared of pride and personal ambition.

He uses the analogy of letting a plant be tested with 'a little more July and August sun' to illustrate the wisdom of not laying hands hastily on a man, allowing time for his character to be proven and for pride and ambition to be revealed or cleared.

How long will the testing go on? It differs in every single man and I do not want to go one millimeter beyond scripture but surely brethren it must be tested Christian experience. If that were not so why did Paul say to Timothy lay hands hastily upon no man? Even a man that seems to impress you with great gifts of utterance and with an apparent symmetry of Christian character do not be hasty to lay hands upon any man.

26:39 - 27:16 Read in full sermon

The point: Make it evident that you have kept your first love for Christ, as it is contradictory to persuade others to sell all for Christ if you are not speaking out of that fervor.

Martin uses the example of a tri- or quadrilingual person reflexively responding in Spanish if spoken to in Spanish to illustrate how Paul, hearing Christ speak in Hebrew, would naturally respond in Hebrew, emphasizing the directness and personal nature of Christ's revelation to him.

it's clear that it was this man's experiential acquaintance with Christ that was the life and the soul of his ministry for Christ look at the text that I've listed in a line because they illustrate this principle that it was his experiential acquaintance with Christ that constituted the life and the soul of his ministry for Christ this was made plain to him at his very conversion and commission on the road to Damascus for when the risen Christ speaks to him what does he say? we read in Acts 26 and verses 14 to 17 and when they were all fallen to the ground I heard a voice saying unto me in the...

39:01 - 40:24 Read in full sermon

The point: Ensure that classrooms where you learn more of Christ cause your hearts to burn, not just your heads to burst with knowledge.

Martin quotes James Stewart from 'Heralds of God' to underscore that a church is not merely a depository of doctrine or a discussion group, but a place where hungry hearts find living bread, and that the power of preaching depends on the inner certainty and personal heart interaction with Christ.

Christ and him crucified and even to God's people Colossians 1 28 Paul speaks of what he endures for the sake of the church and the church and he says whom we proclaim warning every man and teaching every man that we may present every man perfect or mature in Christ brethren I want to quote to you from James Stewart I don't endorse all that Mr. Stewart professes to believe but he's written some very excellent things in his little book on preaching in his book Heralds of God listen to James Stewart in his little book on preaching page 49 addressing this issue do we think Christ purchased the ch...

49:14 - 50:43 Read in full sermon

The point: Ensure that classrooms where you learn more of Christ cause your hearts to burn, not just your heads to burst with knowledge.

Martin quotes George Whitfield's sermon on the duty of a gospel minister, where Whitfield declares he would 'not preach an unknown Christ for ten thousand worlds,' emphasizing that preaching without personal feeling and experience of the truths is 'poor dry sapless stuff' and 'strange fire.'

on the inner certainty of your own soul 200 years ago Whitfield preached a sermon in Glasgow on the duty of a gospel minister he said quote you will not will never preach with power feelingly while you deal in a false commerce with truths unfelt it will be but poor dry sapless stuff your people will go away out of the church as cold as they came in for my own part Whitfield cried I would not preach an unknown Christ for ten thousand worlds such offer God's strange fire and their sermons will but increase their own damnation end quote Isaac Walton has described John Donne in the pulpit of St. P...

50:43 - 52:12 Read in full sermon

The point: Ensure that classrooms where you learn more of Christ cause your hearts to burn, not just your heads to burst with knowledge.

Martin quotes Isaac Walton's description of John Donne in the pulpit, noting that Donne preached 'so as showed his own heart was possessed with those very thoughts and joys that he labored to distill into others,' highlighting the necessity of personal experience for effective ministry.

on the inner certainty of your own soul 200 years ago Whitfield preached a sermon in Glasgow on the duty of a gospel minister he said quote you will not will never preach with power feelingly while you deal in a false commerce with truths unfelt it will be but poor dry sapless stuff your people will go away out of the church as cold as they came in for my own part Whitfield cried I would not preach an unknown Christ for ten thousand worlds such offer God's strange fire and their sermons will but increase their own damnation end quote Isaac Walton has described John Donne in the pulpit of St. P...

50:43 - 52:12 Read in full sermon

The point: Ensure that Christ is the honest theme of your preaching, flowing from a proven love for and devoted attachment to His person.

Martin quotes Alexander White describing his walks and talks, where conversations always made their way 'across country somehow to Jesus of Nazareth,' illustrating the centrality of Christ in the lives and discussions of devoted ministers.

efficient and competent machines dealing with reality at a distance and sending earnest seekers away with an aching disappointed sense that something vital is lacking we want that thrilling sense of immediacy that directness of time that spiritual drive and momentum which only personal heart interaction with Christ can impart to us Alexander White describing his Saturday walks and talks with another man of his generation declared whatever we started off with in our conversations we soon made our way across country somehow to Jesus of Nazareth to his death his resurrection his indwelling end qu...

52:12 - 53:41 Read in full sermon

The point: Ensure that Christ is the honest theme of your preaching, flowing from a proven love for and devoted attachment to His person.

He uses the analogy of every village in Britain having a road to London to illustrate the bygone dictum that 'from every text in the Bible... there was a road to Christ,' emphasizing the sound instinct that all preaching should exalt Christ.

efficient and competent machines dealing with reality at a distance and sending earnest seekers away with an aching disappointed sense that something vital is lacking we want that thrilling sense of immediacy that directness of time that spiritual drive and momentum which only personal heart interaction with Christ can impart to us Alexander White describing his Saturday walks and talks with another man of his generation declared whatever we started off with in our conversations we soon made our way across country somehow to Jesus of Nazareth to his death his resurrection his indwelling end qu...

52:12 - 53:41 Read in full sermon

The point: Ensure that Christ is the honest theme of your preaching, flowing from a proven love for and devoted attachment to His person.

Martin quotes John Donne's forthright expression that 'all knowledge that begins not and ends not with his glory is but a giddy a vacant a vertiginous which means a whirling circle an elaborate and exquisite ignorance,' powerfully conveying the emptiness of knowledge apart from Christ.

was entirely sound which declared that no preaching which failed to exalt Christ was worthy to be called Christian preaching this is our great master theme in the forthright expression of John Donne all knowledge that begins not and ends not with his glory is but a giddy a vacant a vertiginous which means a whirling circle an elaborate and exquisite ignorance powerful words and brethren how can Christ be the honest theme of our preaching if there is not in us upon entering the ministry and then we'll deal in another unit God willing and how to sustain it within the ministry of this element of ...

53:41 - 54:51 Read in full sermon