Development of Sermonic Materials

The point: Settle deeply in your conviction that a right understanding of the Scriptures is the fruit of a present operation of the Holy Spirit, not just exegetical tools.

The 'nerves and fibers of self-confidence' are compared to fibrous roots that only shrivel under 'great application of spiritual pressure,' illustrating the painful process God uses to teach dependence on Him.

is not alone the fruit of the tools of exegesis, but is the fruit of a present operation of the Holy Spirit, the better off we'll be. Now God may have to teach some of you this in a very bitter way. The nerves and fibers of self-confidence are very, very real in all of us, those fibrous roots of self-confidence, and they shrivel only when there is great application of spiritual pressure upon them. And it's relatively easy to assume that when you have a workable knowledge of the languages and you have a fairly well-stocked library

6:01 - 6:43 Read in full sermon

The point: Settle deeply in your conviction that a right understanding of the Scriptures is the fruit of a present operation of the Holy Spirit, not just exegetical tools.

Martin contrasts technically accurate but dry commentaries with preaching by men lacking exegetical tools but who, through dependence on God, displayed Christ's glory, highlighting the essential difference of prayer and reliance on the Holy Spirit.

that he wants them to know, but he recognizes that if they are to know them there must be a present operation of the Holy Spirit as the spirit of illumination. And the man whose exegesis breathes of the closet is the man whose preaching is marked by a freshness, a warmth, a glow, and a penetration not possible in any other way. I've heard many men give a very technically accurate running commentary on the text that was as dry as the Sahara. I've heard other men who obviously lacked certain tools of exegesis who carried me into the presence of my God and displayed the glory of Christ until I fe...

7:27 - 8:12 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The closet is the best study. The commentators are good instructors. But the author himself is far better. And prayer makes a direct appeal to him and enlists him in your cause.

Spurgeon is quoted saying prayer is the 'ablest assistance' for preachers, helping them find 'savory meat' and gather matter 'on your knees at the gate of heaven,' emphasizing prayer's role in sermon development.

He says as one of his points Your prayers will be your ablest assistance while your discourses are yet upon the anvil. While other men like Esau are hunting for their portion you by the aid of prayer will find the savory meat near at home and may say in truth what Jacob said so falsely the Lord brought it to me. If you can dip your pens into your hearts appealing in earnestness to the Lord you will write well. And if you can gather your matter on your knees at the gate of heaven you will not fail to speak well.

8:44 - 9:19 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The closet is the best study. The commentators are good instructors. But the author himself is far better. And prayer makes a direct appeal to him and enlists him in your cause.

Spurgeon states that prayer, as a 'high spiritual engagement,' cleanses the 'inner eye' to see truth in God's light and that texts often refuse to reveal treasures until opened with the 'key of prayer,' illustrating prayer's power in spiritual understanding.

Prayer as a mental exercise will bring many subjects together before the mind and so help in the selection of a topic while as a high spiritual engagement it will cleanse your inner eye that you may see the truth in the light of God. Text will often refuse to reveal their treasures till you open them with the key of prayer. How wonderfully were the books opened to Daniel when he was in supplication. How much Peter learned upon the housetop.

9:19 - 9:48 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The closet is the best study. The commentators are good instructors. But the author himself is far better. And prayer makes a direct appeal to him and enlists him in your cause.

Spurgeon asserts that 'The closet is the best study' and prayer makes a direct appeal to the 'author himself,' enlisting Him in the preacher's cause, underscoring the superiority of direct communion with God over human commentators.

The closet is the best study. The commentators are good instructors. But the author himself is far better. And prayer makes a direct appeal to him and enlists him in your cause.

9:48 - 10:00 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The closet is the best study. The commentators are good instructors. But the author himself is far better. And prayer makes a direct appeal to him and enlists him in your cause.

Spurgeon describes praying oneself into the 'spirit and marrow of a text' like a worm boring into a nut's kernel, and prayer supplying 'leverage for the uplifting of ponderous truths,' illustrating deep, prayerful engagement with Scripture.

It's a great thing to pray oneself into the spirit and marrow of a text working into it by a sacred feeding thereon even as the worm bores its way into the kernel of the nut. Prayer supplies a leverage for the uplifting of ponderous truths. One marvels how the stones of Stonehenge could have been set in their place. Apparently a very unusual phenomena there in England.

10:00 - 10:24 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The closet is the best study. The commentators are good instructors. But the author himself is far better. And prayer makes a direct appeal to him and enlists him in your cause.

The marvel of how the stones of Stonehenge were set is compared to the mystery of how some men obtain 'admirable knowledge of mysterious doctrines,' suggesting prayer as the 'potent machinery' behind such spiritual insight.

It's a great thing to pray oneself into the spirit and marrow of a text working into it by a sacred feeding thereon even as the worm bores its way into the kernel of the nut. Prayer supplies a leverage for the uplifting of ponderous truths. One marvels how the stones of Stonehenge could have been set in their place. Apparently a very unusual phenomena there in England.

10:00 - 10:24 Read in full sermon

Driving home: And until the text is handled you, you're not fit to preach it. Until the text is taken hold of you, you're not fit to preach it. And it's by prayer that we cease to feel we have the text, and the text begins to have us.

Spurgeon says 'veins of precious ore will be revealed to your astonished gaze as you quarry God's word and use diligently the hammer of prayer,' illustrating prayer's role in uncovering deep truths.

of precious ore will be revealed to your astonished gaze as you quarry God's word and use diligently the hammer of prayer. You will sometimes feel as if you were entirely shut up, and then suddenly a new road will open before you. He who hath the key of David openeth, and no man shuddereth. If you have ever sailed down the Rhine, the water scenery of that majestic river will have struck you as being very like in effect to a series of lakes. Before and behind, the vessel appears to be enclosed in massive walls of rock or

11:20 - 11:53 Read in full sermon

Driving home: And until the text is handled you, you're not fit to preach it. Until the text is taken hold of you, you're not fit to preach it. And it's by prayer that we cease to feel we have the text, and the text begins to have us.

The Rhine River's scenery, appearing enclosed until a corner is turned to reveal the flowing river, is used to illustrate how a text can seem closed until 'prayer propels your vessel' into 'fresh waters,' revealing the 'broad and deep stream of sacred truth.'

of precious ore will be revealed to your astonished gaze as you quarry God's word and use diligently the hammer of prayer. You will sometimes feel as if you were entirely shut up, and then suddenly a new road will open before you. He who hath the key of David openeth, and no man shuddereth. If you have ever sailed down the Rhine, the water scenery of that majestic river will have struck you as being very like in effect to a series of lakes. Before and behind, the vessel appears to be enclosed in massive walls of rock or

11:20 - 11:53 Read in full sermon

Driving home: And until the text is handled you, you're not fit to preach it. Until the text is taken hold of you, you're not fit to preach it. And it's by prayer that we cease to feel we have the text, and the text begins to have us.

Martin states that until the text 'has handled you, you're not fit to preach it,' emphasizing that prayer allows the preacher to be gripped and transformed by the message before delivering it.

it, it begins to handle you. And until the text is handled you, you're not fit to preach it. Until the text is taken hold of you, you're not fit to preach it. And it's by prayer that we cease to feel we have the text, and the text begins to have us. Use prayer as a boring

12:27 - 12:46 Read in full sermon

Driving home: And until the text is handled you, you're not fit to preach it. Until the text is taken hold of you, you're not fit to preach it. And it's by prayer that we cease to feel we have the text, and the text begins to have us.

Prayer is likened to a 'boring rod' that causes 'wells of living water' to leap up, illustrating how prayer unlocks spiritual refreshment and insight from the Word.

rod, and wells of living water will leap up and down. And when the verse says, And I cannot emphasize this enough, my brethren, and I am personally convinced that it's one of those subjective but very real ingredients that means the difference from anointed preaching and a mere well-organized commentary upon a given text of Holy Scripture. There must be earnest prayer for the assistance of the Holy Spirit, and there must be earnest prayer and earnest prayer for the assistance of the Holy Spirit, and there must be earnest prayer

12:46 - 13:20 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He explains that the Holy Spirit guides the preacher to discern which aspects of a text's inherent truth are most needed by the people at a given time, comparing the Word of God…

The Word of God is compared to a diamond with many facets, illustrating how a single text contains multiple truths, and the Holy Spirit guides the preacher to discern the most needed aspect for the congregation.

The word of God is like a diamond. It has many facets. It is one diamond, one given text of scripture. And so it is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to make us sensitive, to give us, as it were, the ability to see in that text that aspect of its inherent truth, which is most needed for the people of God at that particular time.

14:32 - 14:56 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not approach sermon preparation with only lexical aids, commentaries, and mental abilities, but with conscious dependence on the Holy Spirit, driving you to prayer.

Martin shares that God has brought Jeremiah 17:5 to his mind when a text hasn't yielded its truth, convicting him of not seeking God's face earnestly, illustrating the personal experience of the curse of creature confidence.

More than once God has brought this passage to mind when I've been laboring over a text and it just seems as though it hasn't yielded its truth. And the Lord has dealt with me about the fact that I have not really sought his face in earnest.

15:17 - 15:33 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not approach sermon preparation with only lexical aids, commentaries, and mental abilities, but with conscious dependence on the Holy Spirit, driving you to prayer.

The feeling of inhabiting a 'parched land' with no 'flower to gather' or 'food to gather' is used to describe the grievous experience of a minister called to feed the flock but lacking divine assistance due to creature confidence.

And I've been experiencing the truth of this text. Thus said, The Lord cursed is the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his eye, and whose heart departed from the Lord. He shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness of salt land, and not inhabit it. And I tell you, there's nothing more grievous than to see somebody approaching, and know that you're called upon to feed the flock of God, and to feel that you're inhabiting a parched land.

15:35 - 16:09 Read in full sermon

The point: Maintain a childlike dependence upon the Holy Spirit, like when you first prepared a sermon and knew you needed divine assistance.

Specific commentators and scholars (Albert, Kylan Dalish, Calvin, Lenski, Hendrickson) are named as examples of 'flesh' that one might trust in, leading to the curse of God if they become the resting place instead of the Holy Spirit.

Whether that flesh, the Albert, Kylan Dalish, Calvin, Lenski, Hendrickson, you make flesh your arm, and the curse of God is upon you. And the frightening thing is, you may not even know it. And because you become more and more...

16:53 - 17:08 Read in full sermon

The point: Maintain a childlike dependence upon the Holy Spirit, like when you first prepared a sermon and knew you needed divine assistance.

Bonar's comment on the rarity of men who keep their freshness to the end of their days is cited, linking it to the failure to maintain childlike dependence on the Holy Spirit.

And this danger increases in direct proportion to your experience in handling the Scriptures. And I'm convinced again this is why there are so few men who have kept their freshness to the end of their days. Bonar makes this comment in his Life and Diary. The fact that there are so few men who keep their freshness to the end of their days.

17:26 - 17:48 Read in full sermon

The point: Maintain a childlike dependence upon the Holy Spirit, like when you first prepared a sermon and knew you needed divine assistance.

Ministers who lose childlike dependence on the Holy Spirit are described as getting 'too smart for their own britches,' highlighting the pride that can accompany increased experience.

And I'm convinced this is one of the reasons why. Because there are so few men who maintain a childlike dependence upon the Holy Spirit. They get too smart for their own britches. And if only the Lord could so move upon us as to maintain in us that spirit that we had the first time we had to prepare a sermon when we knew if we were not divinely assisted, we had had it.

17:48 - 18:13 Read in full sermon

The point: Maintain a childlike dependence upon the Holy Spirit, like when you first prepared a sermon and knew you needed divine assistance.

The feeling of being a 'whimpering, weaned child in the presence of God' is used to describe the painful, inward realization of divine dependence when first preparing a sermon, which Martin prays ministers will maintain.

And that just wasn't some kind of a glib, shallow confession. I mean, you knew it down here, inwardly, painfully. And you felt like a whimpering, weaned child in the presence of God. Oh, may God enable you to maintain that spirit.

18:13 - 18:30 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that earnest prayer for the assistance of the Holy Spirit is a constant necessity for accurate exegesis.

John Bunyan, despite being ignorant of original languages, is presented as a far more astute exegete and applier of God's Word than many gifted men, due to his fervent prayer and childlike dependence on the Holy Spirit.

Earnest prayer for the assistance of the Holy Spirit is a constant necessity if we are to be accurate exegetes. That's why you can take a John Bunyan who was totally ignorant of the original language. And he's a far more astute exegete, expositor, and applier of the Word of God than many men who were far more gifted. And so accurate that even an Owen whose learning makes the most learned amongst us here seem like kindergarten children say, I'll give up all my learning to be able to preach like the tinker.

18:30 - 19:04 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that earnest prayer for the assistance of the Holy Spirit is a constant necessity for accurate exegesis.

John Owen, a highly learned scholar, is quoted as saying he would 'give up all my learning to be able to preach like the tinker,' demonstrating his profound respect for Bunyan's accurate and powerful preaching.

Earnest prayer for the assistance of the Holy Spirit is a constant necessity if we are to be accurate exegetes. That's why you can take a John Bunyan who was totally ignorant of the original language. And he's a far more astute exegete, expositor, and applier of the Word of God than many men who were far more gifted. And so accurate that even an Owen whose learning makes the most learned amongst us here seem like kindergarten children say, I'll give up all my learning to be able to preach like the tinker.

18:30 - 19:04 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that earnest prayer for the assistance of the Holy Spirit is a constant necessity for accurate exegesis.

Martin expresses frustration with young seminarians who flaunt minor exegetical flaws in Bunyan, emphasizing that Bunyan's overall ministry was a constant stream of refreshing due to his dependence on the Spirit, despite using only an English Bible.

Now, Owen could not have respected the tinker if he wasn't accurate in his handling the Word of God. And few things get me upset. But when I find some young seminarians, coming up with a little exegetical flaw in a John Bunyan and flaunting it, I say I could take him and bang his head against the wall. I really could.

19:04 - 19:26 Read in full sermon

The point: Assume that earnest prayer for the assistance of the Holy Spirit pervades everything else in sermon preparation.

John Owen's perennial freshness in his treatises on the inner life is attributed not just to his knowledge of original languages, but to his knowledge of the 'pith and the marrow of the Word of God that only yielded to a man's prayer,' highlighting dependence on the Holy Spirit.

Why? Because the Word of God yielded to his fervent prayer and to his childlike dependence upon the Holy Spirit. Likewise, that's what makes Owen so perennially fresh. With all of his classical learning and with all of his knowledge and his confidence in the original languages, what is there that makes Volume 6 and Volume 7 and Volume 3 these great treatises on the inner life, what makes them so fresh and so penetrating?

19:45 - 20:14 Read in full sermon

The point: Pay careful regard to context, or the 'universe of discourse,' using biblical introductions and background reading.

Albert Barnes is quoted on explaining the Bible 'not under the influence of a vivid imagination, but under the influence of a heart imbued with a love of truth, and by an understanding discipline to investigate the meaning of words and phrases,' emphasizing disciplined, truth-loving exegesis.

Then, secondly, there must be the diligent labor of exegetical spadework. I don't know what else to call it but that. I want to give you two quotes that have been a great help to me. One is by Albert Barnes, who said, The Bible should be explained not under the influence of a book, not under the influence of a vivid imagination, but under the influence of a heart imbued with a love of truth, and by an understanding discipline to investigate the meaning of words and phrases, and capable of rendering a reason for the interpretation which is proposed.

20:53 - 21:35 Read in full sermon

The point: Pay careful regard to context, or the 'universe of discourse,' using biblical introductions and background reading.

Smeaton, the Scottish divine, is quoted saying, 'We are to expound by language and not by foregone conclusions,' underscoring the importance of letting the text's language dictate its meaning rather than imposing preconceived ideas.

And then the great Scottish exegete, whom I've come to admire tremendously after working through his two volumes this past year, on the atonement, Smeaton, the Scottish divine, who said, We are to expound by language and not by foregone conclusions. We're to expound by language and not by foregone conclusions. And he, along with Hugh Martin and other of those Scottish divines presently finding them, in their spirit incarnate, as it were, again in Professor Murray, are a beautiful example of what it is to expound by language and not by foregone conclusions.

22:12 - 22:56 Read in full sermon

The point: Use Greek and Hebrew concordances to see how God has used words in inspired revelation, even without knowing the languages.

The 'Englishman's Greek Concordance' and 'Englishman's Hebrew Concordance' are given as examples of tools that allow those without linguistic knowledge to see how God used words in the original text, classified by usage rather than English translation.

See how God has used the words in his own volume of inspired revelation. Before you go to the lexicons, you don't need to know a word of Greek or Hebrew to use them. That's why your most popular ones are called the Englishman's Greek Concordance and the Englishman's Hebrew Concordance. The Englishman who only speaks English, but he wants to know how the Holy Spirit has used these words.

27:17 - 27:44 Read in full sermon

The point: Use Greek and Hebrew concordances to see how God has used words in inspired revelation, even without knowing the languages.

Martin uses his own study of 'the nations raged' from Psalm 46:6 as an example of using a concordance to find how the Hebrew word for 'nations' is translated elsewhere (heathen) and how the specific word for 'raged' differs from that in Psalm 2, illustrating careful word study.

And for the benefit of some of you not familiar with those volumes, what they do is, instead of giving you the words in a concordance as they appear in the English translation, you have them as they appear in the Hebrew or the Greek text. So they are classified according to their usage by God, not their translation by men. So that, for instance, if you were studying the psalm that I preached from this morning, the nations raged. You would look in the back under nations and you'd find a word that would give you a page.

27:44 - 28:18 Read in full sermon

The point: Pay careful attention to the arrangement of words (grammar) to discern emphasis in the original languages.

Lenski, a Lutheran commentator, is cited as helpful for grammar but with a caveat that his 'Lutheranism leaking through' on topics like water (baptism) or sovereign grace, illustrating how theological bias can affect interpretation.

And it is here that the standard grammarians and the proven guides will be of great help to us. In the New Testament, the Expositors Greek Testament, you will find very helpful. Lenski, the Lutheran commentator, very helpful, except where it has to do with water or sovereign grace. And then you will find his Lutheranism leaking through, or dribbling through, I should say.

31:19 - 31:50 Read in full sermon

The point: Engage with the text as a Christian, subject to its message, and as a Christian minister seeking to convey that message to others.

The 'Word of the Lord came to me' of the prophets is used to describe a similar 'inward constraint' that enters the New Testament expositor when exegetical spadework ceases to be mere words and becomes God's message to the heart, moving preaching into a 'new ballpark.'

But there is an aspect of the prophetic ministry that I believe enters in to the New Testament expositor. And you'll notice that the prophets again and again said, the Word of the Lord came to me. And, dear brethren, it's when in this spadework of exegesis that that ceases to be just words in the text, and it begins to be the message of God to your own heart, something of the constraint of prophetic utterance begins to enter, and you're in a new ballpark. The Word of the Lord is coming to you.

35:30 - 36:07 Read in full sermon

The point: Use a study sheet to write down phrases of the text and work through their meaning, context, and word usage.

Martin describes his personal method of using study sheets to write down individual phrases of a text (e.g., 'the nations raged') and then working on their meaning, illustrating a practical approach to exegetical spadework.

The first thing that one must do is to have a study sheet, a worksheet, whatever size. I use old mimeograph sheets or things that are printed on one side trying to conserve paper and be a good ecologist as well as a pastor. And it's on that first sheet that I write down the phrases of the text, such as for this morning. I had each of those individual phrases listed so that there were, what, two or three of them on a nine-by-eleven-and-a-half sheet such as this, how the nations raged, in that much space, the kingdoms were moved, space, maybe one other phrase.

36:42 - 37:22 Read in full sermon

The point: Keep a separate sheet for 'Suggested Outlines and Miscellaneous Thoughts' to capture ideas that flash during word studies.

He describes keeping a separate sheet for 'Suggested Outlines and Miscellaneous Thoughts' while doing word studies, illustrating a method for capturing emerging ideas and sermon structures during the exegetical process.

Now, while doing that, I always keep another sheet of paper to my side that has under this column called Suggested Outlines and Miscellaneous Thoughts. And many times while working on the meaning of the words here, some thoughts will begin to flash. Well, you don't have time to organize them or fit them where they're going to go. You just jot them down here.

39:35 - 39:59 Read in full sermon

The point: Interpret and apply the text in accordance with its real meaning, representing it precisely as it does mean.

Broadus is quoted on the preacher's 'most sacred duties' to interpret and apply the text in accordance with its real meaning, emphasizing the solemn obligation to represent the text precisely as it means.

And though Broadus is not in vogue now, there are fads in preaching as there are fads in clothes and everything else. And Broadus has got some good stuff. There was a time when you just couldn't be respectable if you didn't read Broadus and pay attention to him. Now you can be quite respectable if you never heard that he lived.

41:10 - 41:33 Read in full sermon

The point: Avoid improper spiritualizing of the text, especially the Old Testament.

Martin points out the 'amazing reversal' in dispensationalism, where there is a 'wooden literalizing of the New Testament' but a 'fanciful spiritualization of the Old Testament,' illustrating an inconsistent approach to interpretation.

Now because of dispensationalism and its effect, you will find that the spiritualizing is not done in the New Testament. There is a wooden literalizing of the New Testament, but a fanciful spiritualization of the Old Testament. That's an amazing reversal. I've never been able quite to understand the psychology of that.

43:27 - 43:46 Read in full sermon

The point: Avoid improper spiritualizing of the text, especially the Old Testament.

He cites the dispensationalist principle of 'always literal, unless it be foolish to adopt that opinion' regarding prophetic things, contrasting it with their spiritualizing of Old Testament types.

For instance, with regard to prophetic things, they say, always literal, unless it be foolish to adopt that opinion. And so they say, we don't talk about the church as being Zion. We don't talk about the millennium in terms of spiritual realities. We believe the Bible to be interpreted literally.

43:46 - 44:07 Read in full sermon

The point: Avoid improper spiritualizing of the text, especially the Old Testament.

The tendency of some interpreters to 'find types and spiritual shadows under every blade of grass on Canaan's shore' and 'every stone in Jordan's banks' illustrates excessive and improper spiritualizing of the Old Testament.

And yet it's that same class of interpreters that can find types and spiritual shadows under every blade of grass on Canaan's shore. And every stone in Jordan's banks, you see? Now that's a real danger that must be avoided. Now apparently we're not living in a day when this is as much in vogue as it was in a bygone day.

44:07 - 44:28 Read in full sermon

The point: Avoid improper spiritualizing of the text, especially the Old Testament.

Martin mentions reading Fairbairn's two-volume work on typology, which gives a history of spiritualizing, highlighting the 'unbelievable' things good men have done with the Word of God by digging 'beneath and behind' the surface meaning.

I've begun from my own discipline reading the great classic two-volume work with Fairbairn on the typology of Scripture. And he gives a history of spiritualizing throughout the centuries of the church. And it is absolutely unbelievable what some good men have done with the Word of God. And they approach the Bible as though, you know, common people just saw the surface of things, the meaning in the words.

44:28 - 44:54 Read in full sermon

The point: Avoid improper spiritualizing of the text, especially the Old Testament.

The Genesis account of a river splitting into four heads being interpreted as 'virtue splits out into the four great cardinal virtues' is given as an example of 'stupid thing' and 'total disregard' of proper interpretive principles.

But real spiritual men, they dug beneath and behind and they came up with the real significance. So when you read in Genesis there was a river and it split into four heads, now the real meaning is this, that the river is virtue. And virtue splits out into the four great cardinal virtues of self-control or some other kind of stupid thing. An unbelievable handling of the Word of God.

44:54 - 45:18 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not be discouraged if you have not had the opportunity for exposure to the original languages, as men like Bunyan and Fuller prove one can be a trusted preacher without them.

John Bunyan and Andrew Fuller, despite lacking original language knowledge, are presented as 'safe guides in the Word of God' because they 'breathed the message of the Bible,' illustrating the power of spiritual assimilation over mere linguistic skill.

You see, that's why a man like Bunyan and a man like Fuller, I was amazed to find this out because I've done a good bit of reading in Fuller, Andrew Fuller, the past couple of years. Neither of them had a workable knowledge of the original languages and yet you will not find any two men that are more safe guides in the Word of God because they breathed the message of the Bible so that they never would go off far from its central message. On the other hand, you have men who are very, very confident in the original language who will become heretics and terribly imbalanced. Why?

47:16 - 47:50 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not absolutize linguistic knowledge, as God will use those without it to shame those who do.

Martin warns against absolutizing linguistic knowledge, stating God will 'make a fool out of you' by raising someone who 'can't even speak the King's English straight' but will 'preach circles around you' and bless people, demonstrating God's sovereignty over human methods.

But don't ever begin to absolutize because God will just make a fool out of you. And he'll raise up someone who can't even speak the King's English straight, let alone know an alpha from an omega. And he'll preach circles around you and he'll bless the people of God and be used in the salvation and upbuilding of the saints of God in such a way that will put us all to shame. And then God will just lap up his sleeve at you and say, I fooled you again.

48:46 - 49:11 Read in full sermon