Explanation of Crisis Experiences

In this part of the sermon: He clarifies that he is not addressing bizarre, unbiblical 'life-transforming experiences' like the Guideposts story, but rather those experiences that claim to lead to biblically…

An extended quotation from a Guideposts advertisement describing a woman's bizarre, unbiblical vision of Jesus, used to illustrate the kind of 'nonsense' experiences Martin is NOT addressing.

What do we do with those who write their books and their pamphlets and who give their testimonies, and who say that for a certain period of time they were merely, quote, converted? They were, quote, only saved. But then they had a crisis experience, either a baptism in the Holy Spirit, they came to a rest of faith, they came to some kind of experience described in various ways, which transformed their lives from defeated, fruitless, joyless lives into victorious, fruitful, happy Christian lives. What do we do with people who claim life-transforming experiences, which, judged by biblical standa...

2:52 - 4:16 Read in full sermon

The point: Interpret all experiences by the Scriptures, not vice versa.

A quotation from Kenneth Prior's 'Great Doctrines of the Bible, The Way of Holiness' is used to support the axiom that Christian experience is not necessarily the same as the experience of some Christians, warning against making individual experiences normative.

And we saw that with the use which our Pentecostal friends make of Acts 2, of Acts 8, of Acts 10, and Acts 19. They point us to Scripture, to specific Scriptures, and to Scripture. But they place a meaning upon that Scripture which the Scripture itself does not warrant. Now in a very helpful little book called Great Doctrines of the Bible, The Way of Holiness, by Kenneth Pryor, P-R-I-O-R, an InterVarsity publication, in speaking of this axiom, or in writing of this fundamental axiom, in a chapter entitled, Crises on the Way, he says these very perceptions, Now it is usually a good thing to rem...

9:27 - 10:21 Read in full sermon

Driving home: What some regard as their second work of grace was in reality the first real work of grace they ever knew.

An analogy of a person trying to run a race with cut knees is used to describe the defeated, joyless state of those who later claim a 'second work of grace,' highlighting their prior lack of spiritual power.

I could not seem to gain victory over sin in my life. Not just one sin here or there, but my general pattern of life was one of bondage. And with that bondage, continually living with a guilty conscience and therefore no joy and therefore no vibrance in my witness and testimony. I was like a person trying to run a race while he was cut off at the knees.

13:38 - 14:02 Read in full sermon

Driving home: God took you where you were and brought you to himself in the context of the message to which you were exposed and his work was better than the message which you heard by which he effected that work.

Martin reminds the congregation that many of them were 'saved in rank Arminian circles,' illustrating that God works through imperfect messages and meets people where they are, even if their initial understanding was flawed.

And if God didn't deal with us as and where we are, then we wouldn't be able to do it. And if God didn't deal with us as and where we are, if he only dealt with us in terms of where we ought to be and what we ought to hear, most of us would be in a terrible mess today. Most of you got saved in rank Arminian circles. Don't ever forget that.

17:46 - 18:00 Read in full sermon

Driving home: God took you where you were and brought you to himself in the context of the message to which you were exposed and his work was better than the message which you heard by which he effected that work.

An extended quotation from Bishop Ryle's 'Holiness' is used to argue against the theory of a sudden, mysterious transition to entire consecration, emphasizing gradual growth in grace and questioning the understanding of conversion held by those who advocate a 'second conversion'.

There was not any real practicing of righteousness. And they are hard-pressed to square this part of their lives with the Bible's teaching on the necessary fruits of regeneration. Now, in his excellent work, and if you don't possess a copy of this, I would urge you to purchase it, Bishop Ryle's book, series of essays entitled Holiness, Bishop Ryle, in his introduction, says this, that there is a vast difference between one degree of grace and another, that spiritual life admits of growth and that believers should be continually urged on every account to grow in grace. All this I fully conceive...

20:08 - 20:51 Read in full sermon

The point: Interpret your experience in the light of the Word of God, considering if your 'crisis of consecration' was actually your conversion.

The common saying 'one experience is worth a thousand words' and examples of people pointing to their transformed lives (wife, kids, business) are used to represent the strong personal conviction of those who claim a crisis experience.

And they are wrongly describing this work which in reality has been this initial. Alright? Any question then on the first strand of our answer to the question what do we do when someone says you can't take my experience from me? And you've heard the saying one experience is worth a thousand words and I know what I experienced and I know what I was like until I went to that convention.

23:41 - 24:08 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He argues that many who claim a 'second work of grace' are, in reality, experiencing true conversion for the first time, having previously had a defective understanding of the…

An analogy of someone running in their underwear and socks after conversion is used to illustrate that incidental, abnormal behaviors accompanying a true work of grace should not be made normative for others.

That's the only way they can know. That's why I keep emphasizing if the crisis has brought the fruit of what the Bible says are the fruits of union with Christ and of conversion then we have reason to regard that that is indeed the work that God did. Though it does not mean that God was the author of all the incidentals any more than if someone else when he got converted got so happy he ran out in the streets in his underwear and his socks. Well, we don't go saying the only way you're going to get converted is to run out in the street in your underwear and your socks, you see.

26:17 - 26:48 Read in full sermon

Driving home: God has graciously restored him you remember with Peter it was just a look from our Lord and there was restoration followed by the words of our Lord there on the seaside and so we see with David it was the visitation of …

Examples of true believers committing adultery, murder, lying, and incest (from Old and New Testaments) are used to show how low believers can go when they backslide, setting the stage for their 'restoration' being mistaken for a 'second work'.

and dabble in some area of compromise of conscience. With that they began to neglect the means of grace the word of God and secret prayer because every time they went to pray that issue came before them and they felt uncomfortable and by that subtle and yet very real grieving and quenching of the Spirit they no longer were growing in grace at the same rate that they did after they were genuine. Genuinely converted and first of all there is a leveling off and then there is actually a declension and that declension the Bible doesn't define its limits up to the point of the sin unto death. The Bi...

28:49 - 30:17 Read in full sermon

Driving home: God has graciously restored him you remember with Peter it was just a look from our Lord and there was restoration followed by the words of our Lord there on the seaside and so we see with David it was the visitation of …

The restoration of Peter (a look from the Lord) and David (Nathan's visitation) are used as biblical examples of backslidden believers being restored to spiritual vigor, which can be mistaken for a 'second work of grace'.

there has been a renewal he has been restored to that place of spiritual vigor unlike the person who never had anything real in the beginning who could never testify to any of the fruits of first John in his life or any of the ninefold fruit of the spirit he was quote just a carnal Christian from the time he was quote converted or saved this person in the light of scripture we have reason to believe was indeed regenerate the spirit he entered what in Old Testament language would be a backslidden state and God has graciously restored him you remember with Peter it was just a look from our Lord ...

31:46 - 33:16 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He proposes that some crisis experiences are simply sovereign, uncategorized visitations of God's grace, like the shaking of the place in Acts 4, which are not meant to be…

A line from the hymn 'Sometimes a Light Surprises' is quoted to illustrate the concept of sovereign, uncategorized visitations of God's grace that come unexpectedly to languid spirits.

humid July afternoon in New Jersey with sweat pouring off you and it takes an effort simply but the wind is not at your back and call it blows where it wills so is everyone that is born of the spirit the activity of the spirit in regeneration has an element of sovereignty about it that is so painted so evident when we simply trace out our existence and it becomes our everyday life it becomes our life and it becomes our life and we are not going to be ever able to be to be fit. Now it's something of that nature that the hymn writer knew when he wrote the hymn we sing from time to time. Sometime...

34:45 - 36:11 Read in full sermon

Driving home: I have no doubt there are some of you sitting here today that have had special embraces of God which you've never told another soul about.

The shaking of the jail in Acts is mentioned to contrast with the shaking of the building in Acts 4, emphasizing that the latter was an uncategorized event, not a pattern for 'house shaking prayer meetings'.

Now he shook the jail in the middle of the night. God shook that prison. Do you remember that? That jail house was shaken and you remember the manacles fell off the hands of the prisoners.

38:34 - 38:47 Read in full sermon

Driving home: I have no doubt there are some of you sitting here today that have had special embraces of God which you've never told another soul about.

Paul's experience of being caught up into the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12) is used as an example of a special, unrepeatable visitation of God that Paul did not make normative for other apostles or believers.

And in a sense, the principle of Paul's language in 2 Corinthians 12 would be true of you. You've had dealings with God that it's not lawful to utter. Now that was a special visitation of God in grace to the Apostle in 2 Corinthians. He said, I know a man, 14 years ago, whether in the body of the outer or the body of the body, I know not, caught up into the third heaven who heard things unlawful to utter.

39:29 - 39:56 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He proposes that some crisis experiences are simply sovereign, uncategorized visitations of God's grace, like the shaking of the place in Acts 4, which are not meant to be…

A scenario where a prayerful, expectant believer gets 'a few drops' while a careless, ill-prepared one is melted and sent out 'walking on air' is used to illustrate the inscrutable, sovereign nature of God's visitations.

Do you have a balance by which you can weigh the measure of God's presence? And yet you know that God was present. Sometimes, and this is the amazing thing, in a given service, someone sits there who's come prayerful, expectant, no conscious controversy with God, a heart like a dry, thirsty sponge. And they just get a few drops.

41:56 - 42:23 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin suggests that some experiences are special, sovereignly granted endowments of the Spirit for service, as described in 1 Corinthians 12, which are distinct from regenerating…

R.A. Torrey is cited as an example of a man greatly used by God in ministry who, Martin believes, mistakenly took his own unusual endowment of the Spirit for service and concocted a normative doctrine of the Holy Spirit for all Christians.

But to make that normative for all Christian experience is mixing apples and pears and comparing beans and pomegranates. Yes. And often this is what has happened. Some men, I do not doubt that R.A. Torrey was greatly used of God as an evangelist and a Bible teacher. One reads of what happened under his ministry in several countries and judging what happened under his ministry by the standard of the word of God, we have to say God did a mighty work in many places under the ministry of R.A. Torrey.

45:19 - 45:58 Read in full sermon

The point: Look to the fruits of grace (hatred for sin, love for Christ, love for holiness, conformity to Jesus) as primary evidence of being in a state of grace, not fruits of service.

Samson (Spirit came upon him for power, yet he laid with a harlot) and the Corinthians (mighty gifts, low Christian experience) are used to illustrate that there is no necessary relationship between an endowment of power for service and the inward work of sanctification.

Yes. And you see it in the Old and the New Testament. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson. The same Samson who's going down and laying with a harlot.

47:38 - 47:48 Read in full sermon

The point: Look to the fruits of grace (hatred for sin, love for Christ, love for holiness, conformity to Jesus) as primary evidence of being in a state of grace, not fruits of service.

Judas is included in the 'many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not done many mighty works in Thy name' to show that God can give endowments of power for service even where regenerating grace is absent, making fruits of service an unreliable primary evidence of grace.

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not done many mighty works in Thy name, Judas included? No indication that Judas lacked anything in the way of endowment of power to raise the dead, heal the sick, open the eyes of the blind like all the others whom the Lord sent out. That's frightening, isn't it? The vital point, if someone said, my, this happened and I began to see people converted and all the rest, you don't look to the fruits of service as the primary evidence that you're in a state of grace.

48:22 - 48:55 Read in full sermon

The point: Seek the will of God, obedience, directly, immediately, and wholeheartedly, rather than seeking a crisis.

A pastoral anecdote about telling people with long-standing sins to 'just quit' because they're 'not sick enough to stop' is used to illustrate how direct obedience and determination can open up 'springs of grace' that some might misinterpret as a crisis experience.

But that is to be sought. And that's why what happens so often, people have been dilly-dallying, fooling with this, fooling with that. They read a book on how to get to baptism and it gives them six steps. And they get dead in earnest for the first time.

50:55 - 51:08 Read in full sermon

The point: If God told you to stop a sin, then stop it, and don't worry about theological problems or who to thank.

Martin recounts how people have told him he must have had an 'irregular baptism' because he had the 'anointing' but didn't speak in tongues, illustrating the pressure to conform to specific crisis experience narratives and the absurdity of trying to force manifestations.

And what happens is when people get determined to quit, it's amazing. Springs of grace that have been clogged up suddenly begin to be opened up and they have what some would call a crisis. The same way I've had people come to me because they've recognized on occasion that the anointing of God was upon...

51:49 - 52:09 Read in full sermon