Doing the Work of an Evangelist in Preaching, Part 1

The point: Feel your consciences bound by 2 Timothy 4:5 to do the work of an evangelist, not just occasionally, but woven into ordinary pastoral tasks.

Martin quotes Lutheran commentator Lenski to support the idea that 'evangelist' in 2 Timothy 4:5 is used generically, referring to the function of proclaiming the gospel rather than a restricted office, thereby broadening its application to all pastors.

I am also aware of the debate regarding the permanence or the temporary nature of the office. Owen argues most cogently, and I believe personally, unanswerably, that this was a temporary office. When we read, and he gave some to be evangelists, Owen argues very powerfully that this is a temporary office, even as was the office of apostle and prophet. But wherever we come down on that issue, and your orthodoxy will not be suspect in this place, no matter what side you come down on that issue, there is agreement that because of the etymology of the word, whatever an evangelist was as to office, ...

12:07 - 13:30 Read in full sermon

The point: Ensure men know and feel their solemn boundness to personal, perpetual, perfect obedience to God's law, leading to desperation for the gospel's answer.

Paul's reasoning before Felix (Acts 24) is presented as a model of evangelistic preaching that brings the law's demands (righteousness, self-control, judgment) to bear on a sinner's conscience, making him 'terrified' and 'uncomfortable'.

myself alive in my own righteousness, and not until I understood the universally binding authority of that law, and in particular the tenth commandment, and its application to motive and desire. Paul said, until that happened, I regarded myself alive. But when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. Without this sense of the universally binding authority of the law, men are indifferent to their state and condition, they are indifferent to the divine remedy, and they are likely to go on in blatant high-handed sinning which increasingly corrupts themselves and all who touch them. And ther...

25:41 - 27:02 Read in full sermon

The point: Overcome ignorance concerning the law's inflexible, unbending strictness, ensuring hearers understand God's unwavering commitment to judgment for sin.

An anecdote about a woman thinking arranging flowers for communion would help her get to heaven illustrates the ingrained self-righteousness and ignorance of the law's pervasive spirituality that pastors must overcome.

Now what a terrible thing to have people sitting before us held in the horrible curse of self-righteousness. And brethren, the past few years of dealing with people's souls has convinced me that the old notion that we're saved by being good and doing good has not died with the old liberalism. Much of the old liberalism has died. So decadent.

32:41 - 33:04 Read in full sermon

The point: Settle in your minds the principle of overcoming ignorance concerning the law and gospel, and periodically evaluate your sermons to ensure you are driving at this goal.

Martin quotes Ryle's account of John Berridge's counsel, which outlines a method for preaching: first laying open the corruptions of the heart and the law's demands, then, once hearers are 'deeply affected,' preaching Christ with power and love, calling for decision.

For he came not to call the righteous, that is, those righteous and comfortable in their own eyes, but he came to call sinners to repentance. As you can see, my copy of Ryle's Christian Leaders of the Eighteenth Century is well worn. It has some of the most helpful materials on preaching to be found in any book, not explicitly dealing with the subject of preaching in its title. But listen to the advice given by John Berridge to a young minister.

37:36 - 38:10 Read in full sermon

The point: Overcome the ignorance of the gospel's essential doctrinal content, clearly setting forth what God has done in Christ for sinners.

The metaphor of an 'amen corner in the breast of every man' illustrates that when the law is preached, there is an internal witness in every person's conscience that confirms its truth, giving the preacher authority.

So while we've got a hook, as it were, in men's own consciousness, when we're plowing with the law and we have an amen corner in the breast of every man, and that's what gives you great authority and sense of confidence, that though a man may blether and deny it and cuss, you know you've got a built-in amen corner in his own breast. When you press externally in your preaching the very demands that he hears whispered in his breast.

44:59 - 45:27 Read in full sermon

The point: Overcome the ignorance of the gospel's fundamental evangelical demands, explicitly preaching repentance toward God and faith toward Jesus Christ.

The interaction between Paul and the Philippian jailer (Acts 16) is used to demonstrate that the gospel includes explicit demands, such as 'believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,' countering the idea that 'doing' is antithetical to the gospel.

In other words the same evangel that comes with doctrinal content that focuses on a unique person and what he has done to make right the sinner's relationship to God which according to the law is all wrong the minute we talk gospel we are in the middle of the gospel. We are into the realm not only of the great indicatives of God God was in Christ doing something but we confront on the heels of the great indicatives the inescapable imperatives. God commandeth all men everywhere to repent Acts 17 30 1 John 3 22 this is his commandment that we believe on the name of his only begotten son and when...

50:05 - 51:31 Read in full sermon

The point: Engage in holy urging, pleading, and entreating in preaching, reflecting the unrestricted, earnest, personal overtures of God in the gospel.

Martin quotes Spurgeon's advice to young preachers on using 'heart argument' and 'emotional persuasion' (logic set on fire) to plead with sinners, emphasizing the power of tender argument and passionate zeal in evangelistic preaching.

the God who like the father in the parable of the prodigal is constantly squinting beneath the Palestinian son looking for the first indications of returning prodigals that he might go and throw his arms around them and love them and dress them and celebrate their return so we must in doing the work of an evangelist overcome this ignorance about the gospel it's not just about the gospel it's essential doctrinal content it's fundamental evangelical demands and thirdly and here brethren may God help me to state it and may he open your heart to receive it it's unrestricted earnest personal overtu...

55:54 - 57:22 Read in full sermon

The point: Engage in holy urging, pleading, and entreating in preaching, reflecting the unrestricted, earnest, personal overtures of God in the gospel.

Martin shares his personal reflection on which single sentence from Jesus he would most wish to have heard, often settling on John 7:37 ('If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink'), to illustrate the infinite love and holy desire in Christ's earnest overtures.

and then he goes on to give counsels along this line well brethren this is what i'm talking about in terms of the old testament prophets peter says it was the spirit of christ in them testifying well how did the spirit of christ testify to the yearnings of god over israel it's in this language speaking of the ungodly seek the lord while he may be found ho everyone that thirsteth come to the waters why will ye die turn ye turn ye why will ye die come let us reason together saith the lord that's how the spirit of christ testified in these unrestricted earnest personal overtures to lay hold of go...

61:47 - 63:14 Read in full sermon

Driving home: He preached as if he were dying to have you converted.

Martin quotes Gardner-Spring on the minister's duty to disturb apathy, expose crimes, rebuke sins, impress consciences, awaken fears, and urge men to flee wrath, highlighting the intensity required in seeking souls.

Gardner-Spring, I believe, understood something of this in his ministry and often addresses it. You'll have to find the page number in your own book, but it's in the chapter on ministerial diligence.

66:23 - 66:37 Read in full sermon

Driving home: He preached as if he were dying to have you converted.

Martin quotes McShane's statement that 'the end of a sermon is the salvation of people,' emphasizing that a preacher's efforts will rise no higher than his impression of this object's importance.

Gardner-Spring says, The souls of men are committed to his trust, that is, that of the minister. Their apathy must be disturbed, their crimes exposed, their sins rebuked, their consciences impressed, their fears awakened, their refuges of lies swept away, and they themselves urge to flee from the coming wrath. And then in a most moving section, he speaks of the ministry of the Apostle Paul and then the weight of seeking the souls of men ardently and passionately in the chapter on the great object of our preaching, and then he quotes McShane, who said, writing to one of his brethren in the mini...

66:39 - 68:08 Read in full sermon

Driving home: He preached as if he were dying to have you converted.

An anecdote about a woman describing McShane's preaching ('He preached as if he were dying to have you converted') powerfully illustrates the passionate, life-or-death earnestness required in evangelistic ministry.

you love to have a war tried to deleterify with sin. You would hurt your soul to leave it escape finding a sense of hope and a solution to your needs. That little effort was for my globally Lord, be too strong and ardent, where those affections can be gratified only by the salvation of men and through the instrumentality of God's truth. And then he goes on to say that he believes the thing that killed men like McShane and Payson early in life was that they were consumed by the very passion of their own frail humanity for the salvation of sinners. And surely to do the work of an evangelist must...

68:08 - 69:24 Read in full sermon

The point: Reflect on the brevity of life, using mental crutches like cemeteries to foster consciousness of its fleeting nature.

Martin suggests using mental crutches like reflecting on cemeteries to cultivate a felt consciousness of the brevity of life, thereby motivating evangelistic urgency.

The things that are not seen are eternal. Force yourself to use mental crutches and mental bridges to bring you to felt consciousness of the brevity of life. Pray that every time you go by a cemetery, you'll say to yourself, I one day shall be under a stone. I'll just be something eaten by the maggots, and that time will quickly come. It could come tomorrow. It could come before the day is over.

71:59 - 72:29 Read in full sermon

The point: Cultivate sensitivity to judicious opportunities, recognizing when church circumstances or divine providence call for focused evangelistic preaching.

Jesus' use of current events (the Tower of Siloam and the Galileans killed by Pilate in Luke 13) is presented as a model for seizing judicious opportunities to preach repentance and the law's implications.

And then thirdly, it should be the cultivation of sensitivity to judicious opportunities. The cultivation of a sensitivity to judicious opportunities. And what I mean by that is simply this. There are times when in the life of the church, the whole set of church circumstances is ripe to do nothing but the work of an evangelist for a sermon or two. When God has brought circumstances to bear upon your people, when to do anything other than focus in upon the weighty issues of the law and the gospel would be, to manifest the grossest insensitivity to divine providence. The passage our brother is g...

76:41 - 77:52 Read in full sermon