Gifts of Utterance, Part 2

The point: If the average person does not find it easy to listen to him, then he is not called to labor in the word and in doctrine.

Martin uses Ezekiel 33:31-32 to illustrate a preacher who secures a listening ear due to pleasant voice and eloquence, but whose words do not touch the heart, warning against seeking mere aesthetic appeal.

Now, why I've chosen those words will become clear as I open up the heading. On the one hand, I am not saying that one's ability to speak must make him a temptation to people in the way that Ezekiel became a temptation to people. For you'll remember, that in Ezekiel 33 and verse 32, one of the indictments God brought upon the house of Israel was this.

1:54 - 2:21 Read in full sermon

The point: If the average person does not find it easy to listen to him, then he is not called to labor in the word and in doctrine.

Martin gives examples of friends with cerebral palsy or cleft palates whose speech impediments, despite effort and surgery, make it difficult for the average person to listen, arguing they are not called to public preaching.

that modern microsurgery can do to loose a tight tongue, to straighten out and to even enlarge, to pick up and下and bend his upper teeth in fear of the asynchronously f nouvelles perfumes 인지 of But if a man whose faculties of speech, in spite of all that modern surgical technique can accomplish, disciplined effort and prayer can produce, who can only be listened to by the most devoted and highly motivated, then he is not called to trouble with these great difficulties in living and dying. You pray for me and know that the only thing I have and do not want to be made into power straight Abdul Co...

3:57 - 4:40 Read in full sermon

The point: If the average person does not find it easy to listen to him, then he is not called to labor in the word and in doctrine.

Martin quotes R.L. Dabney extensively on physical impediments to preaching, emphasizing that while some difficulties can be overcome, incurable issues like stammering or diseased throats preclude a call to public speaking, yet also warning against quick judgments based on early fluency.

ordinary pastoral preaching and teaching ministry. I have other friends who, in spite of all the surgical procedures, the problems connected with a cleft palate, and an unusual nasality, and the reason I am not imitating it is because I don't want to intrude anything that would even border on the humorous in conjunction with this. But suffice it to say that the average person cannot give a listening ear to such impediments. Now, Dabney has stated this principle in a most balanced way in volume two of his discussions in his article on the call to the ministry, page 37.

5:25 - 6:09 Read in full sermon

The point: If his faculties of speech, by nature, by the acquisitions of special training, modern surgery, and prayer and pains, cannot capture the average person's ear for a tolerable length of time, he must conclude that whatever…

Martin quotes C.H. Spurgeon on how physical infirmities, particularly a 'narrow chest' or defective mouth, can indicate a lack of call to public speech, arguing that God gives suitable physical attributes for the task.

Because the ludicrous cannot capture the ears. And no matter how warm a man's piety may be, and sincere his motives, if his faculties of speech, by nature, by the acquisitions of special training, modern surgery, and prayer and pains, cannot capture the average person's ear for a tolerable length of time, he must conclude that whatever else God has called him to do, he has not called him to labor in the word and in teaching. Spurgeon again speaks with great sagacity to this point. On page 36, and 7,

10:57 - 11:42 Read in full sermon

The point: If his faculties of speech, by nature, by the acquisitions of special training, modern surgery, and prayer and pains, cannot capture the average person's ear for a tolerable length of time, he must conclude that whatever…

Spurgeon's anecdote about declining a candidate with a 'rotary action of his jaw' illustrates that some physical impediments are so distracting they make effective preaching impossible, regardless of piety.

The same applies to brethren with no palate or an imperfect one. Application was received some time ago from a young man who had a sort of rotary action of his jaw of the most painful sort to the beholder. His pastor commended him as a very holy young man who had been the means of bringing some to Christ. And he expressed the hope that we would receive him.

13:20 - 13:44 Read in full sermon

Driving home: What makes a man a competent teacher? The ability to take a body of information that is clearly understood in his own mind and to deposit it clearly understood in the mind of his hearer. That's what makes an apt teacher.

Martin uses the analogy of 'biblical and theological hash' to describe unclear preaching where ideas are jumbled, emphasizing that Christ gives shepherds who feed with knowledge and understanding, not confusion.

Not serving up biblical and theological hash so you don't know where the strings of meat are and where the pieces of potato are. It's all just jumbled up and popped on the plate. Christ does not give such men to cause his sheep to suffer. He gives them shepherds who will feed them with knowledge and understanding because he loves them.

18:31 - 18:55 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second element is the ability to express one's thoughts clearly and convincingly to the average person. This is essential for being an 'apt teacher' who can transfer…

The anecdote of a young preacher struggling to articulate his thoughts to Dr. Parker illustrates the lack of ability to express thoughts clearly and convincingly, which is essential for an 'apt teacher'.

Therefore, if a man is not given the ability, both in terms of what was programmed into him and that which is acquired and cultivated to express himself with orderly arrangement, clarity of expression, sufficient fluency, so that his thoughts can be tracked and followed and absorbed, God has the power to do what he wants to do. He does not call that man to preach. Some of you have heard in another section of the course this incident, but I couldn't come up with a better illustration, so since our Lord repeated illustrations, there's biblical precedent for doing it. It was the incident where a ...

18:59 - 19:44 Read in full sermon

Driving home: They may not, they may not be impressed, they may not be awed, they may not be swept off their feet, but they're edified. And according to 1 Corinthians 14, that's the acid test of a God-given gift being exercised in a G…

Martin contrasts Jesus' teaching with authority (Matthew 7) against the scribes' reliance on rabbinical traditions, illustrating what spiritual authority sounds like in preaching.

He taught them as having authority and not as, as their scribes. The scribes trafficked in quotations from the rabbis. And they had their whole scheme and their multiplied schema of rabbinical traditions. And one rabbi was set against another.

24:38 - 25:02 Read in full sermon

Driving home: They may not, they may not be impressed, they may not be awed, they may not be swept off their feet, but they're edified. And according to 1 Corinthians 14, that's the acid test of a God-given gift being exercised in a G…

Martin quotes John Owen on the authority accompanying the delivery of the word, which ensures hearers receive it as the word of God, not man, connecting it to spiritual abilities.

And that is one of the clear indications that God has given a gift of utterance. Listen to Owen speaking to this. Volume 4, page 513. Volume 4, volume 4, page 513, and it's listed as point number 4.

27:34 - 27:53 Read in full sermon

The point: We are not authorized to limit God's spirit in this more than in any other department of his operations. He can call whom he pleases and we should pray for an increase of laborers without respect to the classes from whic…

Martin quotes James Henley Thornwell on the popular error of limiting the call to ministry to young men and emphasizing human training, arguing that a divine call is sovereign and imparts a 'peculiar fitness and unction of the Holy Ghost'.

That'll suffice. Listen to Thornwell writing in volume 4, pages 27 and 28 on the call of the minister.

36:10 - 36:21 Read in full sermon

The point: We are not authorized to limit God's spirit in this more than in any other department of his operations. He can call whom he pleases and we should pray for an increase of laborers without respect to the classes from whic…

Martin quotes C.H. Spurgeon on the absolute essentiality of the Holy Spirit for ministers, stating that without Him, their office is a 'mere name' and they are not truly sent by God.

Then we turn from Thornwell to Spurgeon. And Spurgeon writes on page 186 in my version of his lectures to my students on the Holy Spirit in conjunction with our ministry. To us as ministers the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential. Without Him our office is a mere name.

39:16 - 39:41 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Authority is required. He's speaking of the duties of the pastor and the requisite gifts needed to fulfill the duty. What is authority in a preaching ministry? It is a consequence of unction not of office.

Martin quotes John Owen, who asserts that authority in preaching is a 'consequence of unction, not of office,' contrasting the scribes' office without unction with Christ's unction without outward call.

Authority is required. He's speaking of the duties of the pastor and the requisite gifts needed to fulfill the duty. What is authority in a preaching ministry? It is a consequence of unction not of office.

41:32 - 41:46 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Negatively, Martin clarifies that unction has nothing necessarily to do with animation, eloquence, volume, or fluency, though it may be reflected in these. He illustrates this…

Martin shares a humorous personal anecdote about a man who equated unction with a preacher's feet moving, illustrating the misconception that unction is necessarily tied to animation or external mannerisms.

Well at least it's true. Unction has nothing necessarily to do with animation, eloquence, volume, or fluency while it may, be reflected in all of these. Now, why do I say that? Well, I want to give you a ludicrous but real, live, bona fide example. It's not apocryphal because it happened to me. A number of years ago,

43:54 - 44:17 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Negatively, Martin clarifies that unction has nothing necessarily to do with animation, eloquence, volume, or fluency, though it may be reflected in these. He illustrates this…

Martin uses Hitler's powerful, fluent, and eloquent speeches to demonstrate that fluency and eloquence do not necessarily equate to divine unction, as they can be used for error.

again, of natural endowment, acquisition, and discipline. A number of factors. It may have nothing to do with volume, fluency. Without understanding hardly a word of German, you've seen some of the tapes of Hitler who could go on fluent almost as though possessed of a divine spirit for hours in declaiming before thousands of people in the most burning kind of eloquence that I find moving, not understanding a word. Tremendous fluency.

46:14 - 46:48 Read in full sermon

Driving home: I don't know what to do is but i sure enough knows what it ain't

Martin quotes John Owen's detailed description of the gift of utterance, clarifying that it is not mere volubility or rhetorical ability, but a 'freedom and liberty in the declaration of the truth,' boldness, gravity, and authority.

that the listener knows that a power is operative beyond that of the mere moment of the mortal standing before him Owen talked around it as I'm trying to talk around it on page 572 of volume 4 and with this I close our lecture today 5, no not 572 512 couldn't read my own 1 from a 7 this is what Owen says the gift of utterance belongs unto this part of the ministerial duty in the dispensation of the doctrine of the gospel this is particularly reckoned by the apostle

49:52 - 50:36 Read in full sermon

Driving home: I don't know what to do is but i sure enough knows what it ain't

Martin recounts the anecdote of an old black preacher who, when asked about unction, replied, 'I don't know what it is, but I sure enough knows what it ain't,' emphasizing its experiential, yet elusive, nature.

and then thirdly so doth gravity or seriousness in expression becoming the sacred majesty of christ and his truths in the delivery of them fourthly he speaks of authority i commend this section to you but brethren perhaps we have to go back to the words of the old black preacher when he was asked by someone what desonction you talked aboutτί the preacher saying, well i don't know what to do is but i sure enough knows what it ain't

52:46 - 53:28 Read in full sermon