During the Sermon, Part 2

Driving home: Well, obviously, there is no contradiction in God or in his word, and the confusion arises from what is only an apparent contradiction, and the answer lies in this case, as in most cases, in, in searching out the whole t…

Martin uses the example of God's promises in Isaiah 55 seeming to contradict the reality of the Word not profiting in Hebrews 4 to illustrate how God's children can be plunged into perplexity.

Many portions in the Psalms, in particular, reflect the reality of a child of God plunged into a state of temporary confusion and perplexity. And few things will bring about this condition of perplexity and confusion more readily, than a condition in which God's promises seem to be contradicted by other pronouncements in his word, or more frequently, by the factors of his providence.

3:17 - 3:58 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Christ, the Scripture, your own hearts, and Satan's devices are the four prime things that should be first and most studied and searched. If any cast off the study of these, they cannot be seen, save here, nor happy here…

Martin quotes Puritan Thomas Brooks' 'Epistle Dedicatory' from 'Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices' to confirm the historical and theological necessity of studying the devil's workings, aligning his sermon with a respected tradition.

Thomas Brooks, a Puritan preacher of the 1600s, preached a series of sermons to his people, and then because they were so helped by them, they pressured the man of God to put them in print, and they have come down to us as his well-known treatise, Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices. And in what the old Puritans called the Epistle Dedicatory, that is, a letter indicating to whom they are desirous that their printed words would come, and why, Brooks wrote as follows to his own congregation, Beloved in our dearest Lord,

15:27 - 16:12 Read in full sermon

The point: You can't afford the luxury of careless listening to the word; you must take heed how you hear.

Martin imagines mechanized banners in the church (one saying 'take heed how you hear,' another 'preach the word') and a trained flock of birds flying around during preaching to represent the devil's constant, active presence as the 'fowls of the air' snatching the seed.

you'll remember it was the fowls of the air that followed behind and in companionship with the sower who swooped down and with their beaks plucked up that seed before it was pressed into the earth and could germinate and bring forth fruit in the initial message I said if we went into banners I could wish we would have two mechanized banners in this building and we would and when I stood up to preach that one would drop behind me so I couldn't see it but you'd be forced to see it looking in this direction and it would say take heed how you hear

31:29 - 32:14 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not lay all the burden on the preacher to keep your attention; there's no excuse for lazy listening.

Martin compares spiritual drunkenness to being out of touch with reality and contrasts it with a watchful soldier on guard at night, straining all faculties to detect the enemy, to illustrate the vigilance required in hearing the Word.

forms of spiritual drunkenness when a man gets drunk he gets by degrees out of touch with reality the excessive accumulation of alcohol in his blood stream when it goes to his brain gets him by degrees out of touch with reality Peter says no spiritual drunkenness cast all your care upon the living God yes but to the end that with a heart that is carefree you may engage all of your faculties in looking all of reality straight in the eye be sober furthermore he says be watchful that's a military term be constantly like a man who has

49:17 - 50:02 Read in full sermon

The point: Be sober and watchful, engaging all your faculties in looking at all reality straight in the eye.

Drawing from nature films, Martin illustrates how a lion seeks out the weak, diseased, young, or separated from the herd, applying this to how the devil targets spiritually weak believers who do not take heed how they hear the Word.

he jumped and he no no he's not going around roaring getting a kick out of watching people jump look at the text it says as a roaring lion walks about seeking whom he may utterly devour and swallow down he doesn't want to leave you with just a few fang marks in your arm or your neck or a few claw marks your face and swallow you that's the imagery peter gives now whom does a lion devour

52:14 - 52:59 Read in full sermon

The point: Drive the birds (distracting thoughts) away during preaching.

Martin uses the analogy of basketball moves (keen, double head fake, pump fake, hookshot) and the imagery of a 'porno movie' running over the 'eyeballs of your soul' to illustrate the distracting, vile thoughts the devil injects during preaching to snatch away the Word.

in the reception of that word and to the devil under the imagery of the fowls of the air circles over your head and seeks to pluck up that seed by bringing some unusual foot move of a keen and a double head fake and a pump fake and a beautiful hookshot and it starts coming in the name of jesus get away from me nothing to do with a team's hookshot or shacks dunk in heaven and hell and the needs of

58:08 - 58:53 Read in full sermon

The point: Kneel with and resist vile, lustful, lecherous, and unclean thoughts in the name of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Martin references Abraham driving away the birds from his sacrifice (Genesis 15:11) as an example of actively resisting the devil's attempts to corrupt spiritual acts, applying it to driving away distracting thoughts during preaching.

my soul dry the birds away like abraham did when they sought to compound upon the sacrifice that said he drove them away and when the lion comes and seeks to devour you with injecting thoughts about the cares of this life about things innocent in themselves not to speak of injecting vile and lustful and lecherous and unclean thought passively glassy eyed looking at the creature while your porno movie runs over the eyeballs of your soul in the very presence of god kneel

58:53 - 59:37 Read in full sermon