Guidelines

The point: Pray for those who minister the word of God to you, and for the one who stands in that posture in this hour.

Martin describes the internal struggle of a preacher who, after delivering a powerful sermon, would rather retreat to prayer than immediately preach again, illustrating the spiritual intensity of ministry and the need for prayer.

And I frankly say I would rather be back in my home. I would rather be back in my home. I would rather be back in my motel room praying than standing here and preaching. To have to shut down the impresses made from the previous hour and to seek to open up afresh my own mind and spirit to the impress of the things that I have prepared is not what I would like to do, but believing that God has sovereignly ordered the arrangement of our time together as we pray.

1:22 - 1:56 Read in full sermon

Driving home: They are not the fruit of abstract meditations. They did not grow out of the study of the scholar. Rather, they were born out of real-life situations. They are often wet with tears and with the blood of their human autho…

Martin quotes from Leupold's introduction to his Psalms commentary, which distills the unique helpfulness and comprehensive guidance the Psalms offer for every life situation, reinforcing the value of the study.

Question one, why are the Psalms uniquely helpful in the cultivation of our communion with God? And I gave three basic parts of the answer to that question. And secondly, what are the prerequisites for a profitable use of the Psalms in cultivating our communion with God? And perhaps the best way to distill the thrust of what we considered under those two questions is for me to simply read several paragraphs from the conclusion of Leupold's very helpful commentary on the Psalms.

2:40 - 3:25 Read in full sermon

The point: Behold your Lord in those portions of the Psalms which describe the righteous man or the ideal covenant keeper.

Martin asks children what they think were the last words of the pre-incarnate Christ before coming to Mary's womb, using Psalm 40:7-8 (applied in Hebrews 10) to illustrate Christ's perfect delight in doing God's will.

my heart. I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great assembly. Lo, I will not refrain my lips. These words are directly applied to our Lord Jesus in Hebrews chapter 10. And I at times have asked the children, what do you think were

38:03 - 38:24 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second guideline is to read the Psalms with the greater light and enlarged privileges of a New Covenant believer. Martin affirms the unity of God's people across epochs but…

Martin shares how his sons-in-law calling him 'Dad' signified a deep heart connection, illustrating the intimacy and filial liberty believers have in addressing God as 'Abba, Father' through the Spirit of His Son.

perhaps at least we can say Dad. There's something about the word Dad. When my sons-in-law began to call me Dad, I knew I was in their hearts.

53:33 - 53:45 Read in full sermon

The point: In the ongoing struggle with sin, when we have fallen grievously, read Psalm 51 in the light of 1 John 2:2.

Martin recounts a personal experience of feeling distant from God and being reminded of Hebrews 9:22 and 1 John 2:2, illustrating the comfort and power of Christ's intercession as an advocate for sinners.

He embodies in his place all the virtue of his turning away of the wrath of God. Several weeks ago, when seeking to get in a praying form on a Sunday morning and feeling such distance, there was one man who asked me to open a door in his heart and utter a verse that became the open door for me. Hebrews 9.22 Now to appear before the face of God for us.

61:44 - 62:18 Read in full sermon

The point: Read the Psalms with the greater measure of light and understanding concerning the ground of a sinner's pardon and acceptance before God in Christ.

Martin quotes Charles Wesley's hymn about Christ's 'five bleeding wounds' pouring effectual prayers, vividly illustrating Christ's ongoing intercession and propitiation for believers' sins.

If ever there was a time I was tempted to do as some of our brethren in certain ecclesiastical circles and feel that if God gives you a text with power and prayer, preach on it, I was tempted to set aside all the hours of preparation. now to appear before the face of God for us and all the glory of knowing that whatever sins have plagued my life and now sting my conscience I can come into the presence of God with an advocate who appears before the face of God for me not to say amen to my condemning conscience and

62:18 - 63:00 Read in full sermon

The point: As you read the Psalms, remember they reflect the language of the Hebrew temperament inflamed or deeply agitated with religious passion finding expression with poetic intensity and liberty.

Martin argues that God's 'grief' (Genesis 6) and 'rejoicing' (parables of lost coin/sheep/son) demonstrate that God is a 'feeling God,' not a stoic, and that the Hebrew temperament reflects His own, justifying the emotional intensity of the Psalms.

God must be irritated when he reads the commentators who say this doesn't mean that God felt anything like human grief well if it didn't why does he tell us that it grieved him at his heart it grieved him he rejoices when our Lord Jesus gives the parables of the lost coin the lost sheep the lost son what's he illustrating said that God incarnate is welcoming sinners with joy and he says if you only knew the heart of God you wouldn't do that there is joy in God's heart in the presence of the angels we always say there's joy in the angels no there's joy in the

67:39 - 68:19 Read in full sermon

The point: If you want to dance for joy, and weep for joy, and hang your head in holy mourning, and be drawn out of yourself in adoration and worship, welcome to the Psalms.

Martin uses the imagery of 'hills dancing and fields clapping their hands' to illustrate the 'poetic intensity and liberty' of the Psalms, explaining that poetry aims to move the soul, not just illuminate the mind.

language that is inappropriate to prose. And so when you read about hills dancing and fields clapping their hands and mountains skipping, you realize here's the intensity and the liberty of poetry. And you see, poetry is aimed not primarily to illuminate the mind, but to move the soul.

69:41 - 70:06 Read in full sermon

The point: If you want to dance for joy, and weep for joy, and hang your head in holy mourning, and be drawn out of yourself in adoration and worship, welcome to the Psalms.

Martin quotes a hymn to illustrate how poetic language, unlike prose, has a unique power to move the soul and express deep spiritual longing, reinforcing the value of the Psalms' poetic form.

It has a peculiar benefit. I can stand here and say, we all ought to say, Lord Jesus, I love you and I thirst for you. But what is there about the words, Jesus, thou joy of loving hearts, thou fount of life, thou light of men, from the best bliss that earth imparts, we turn unfilled to thee again. Well, you see, God ordained that the greatest, densest, most powerful body of revelatory data, in which we have direct address to God, should be couched in

70:08 - 70:45 Read in full sermon