During the Sermon, Part 7

The point: Regulate the level to which you allow your heart and spirit to run out with the truth in dimensions of expression, especially when physical limitations are present.

An old, wise servant of God asked a young Albert Martin if he believed 'we have the treasure in earthen vessels,' advising him to 'never be afraid to let the clay show, for the treasure is never more precious than when the clay is obvious.' This sets a tone of humility and vulnerability for the sermon.

The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, July 23, 1995, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Before we turn to the reading of the Word of God, there is a personal matter that I want to convey to you. A number of years ago, when I was ministering at a conference in another part of the country, a very old, wise, seasoned, blunt, frank servant of God took me aside when I was a very young man, and he asked me if I believed one of the verses that was read in your hearing this morning, namely, we have the treasure in earthen vessels, in clay pots. He said, now you be...

0:02 - 0:57 Read in full sermon

The point: Regulate the level to which you allow your heart and spirit to run out with the truth in dimensions of expression, especially when physical limitations are present.

Martin shares his recent experience with a retinal tear and laser surgery, explaining that he must consciously regulate his passionate preaching style to avoid physical strain. This personal story explains potential changes in his delivery and connects to the idea of self-control and not tempting God.

And he said, well, if you do, never be afraid to let the clay show, for the treasure is never more precious than when the clay is obvious. And because many of you know me well and have sat long under this ministry and would pick up on nuances that might cause concern to you, I feel I should mention that as I stand before you to preach this morning, I must consciously seek to place awareness, to reign on the degree to which I let my passions and emotions take hold of the rest of me from the sole of my feet to the end of my fingertips to the hair on the back of my neck as I preach. Some of you k...

0:57 - 2:28 Read in full sermon

The point: If you are not a child of God, recognize that your natural disposition is to rid yourself of the pressure of the Word; God have mercy on your course of self-destruction.

Describes how the Holy Spirit can 'get a hook in you' during preaching, making even resistant individuals attentive to spiritual realities. This illustrates the Spirit's power to penetrate hardened hearts despite natural resistance.

It is not enough so to hear as to have an immediate heart response to that word, but there ought to be a jealous concern to retain that word in our hearts and having retained it in our hearts to experience its appropriate influence upon our lives. Now before we turn to the concern demonstrated from the word of God, let me pause to say what should be obvious to many of you. This concern will only be true of those who are either in a state of grace or are having dealings with God in His prevenient grace because by nature the scripture says we love darkness rather than light and we will not come ...

15:53 - 17:17 Read in full sermon

The point: If you are a child of God in a state of arrested growth or conscious controversy with God, do not rationalize, cauterize, or anesthetize the raw nerves God pinches through the preaching of the Word.

Compares the way a physician anesthetized his eyeball for surgery to how backsliding believers anesthetize their consciences when God's Word pinches a 'raw nerve' of controversy. This illustrates the self-destructive act of resisting conviction.

I can only say God have mercy on your course of self-destruction that God would mark you out among the billions who have lived and died and who this day are living and many of whom shall die having never once heard a gospel sermon and you've heard dozens and hundreds of them and your history is the history of seeking to obliterate every impress of those sermons for your own damnation God have pity upon you in your blindness and also tragic to say the child of God who's in a state of arrested growth who's got a conscious controversy with God and one of the raw nerves of the area of that controv...

18:47 - 20:16 Read in full sermon

The point: Cultivate an intimate relationship with the truth you hear, making it your sibling and familiar friend, as this is your responsibility, not the preacher's.

Uses the imagery of sailors lashing themselves to a ship's mast in a storm to illustrate the command to 'bind them continually upon your heart,' emphasizing the need to secure God's words against turbulent life circumstances.

with what end in view not merely to show off how much of my words you can remember and quote to others but with a view to having them ready at hand in the center of your being in the citadel of your humanity that is in your heart with a view to obeying them keep my commandments and live again chapter 6 verses 20 to 22 I say it's an oft repeated command my son keep the commandment of thy father forsake not the law of thy mother bind them continually where upon your heart last them to your heart as sailors might lash one another to the mast of a ship in the midst of a turbulent storm that they b...

33:34 - 35:01 Read in full sermon

The point: Cultivate an intimate relationship with the truth you hear, making it your sibling and familiar friend, as this is your responsibility, not the preacher's.

Likens the desired relationship with God's Word to that of a beloved sibling and a familiar friend, emphasizing that the truth should not be a stranger but an intimate, cultivated relationship.

his son to do this for not simply that he might be this big storehouse of the knowledge of the word of God which has been preached to him by his father but that his life might be regulated by it so you see the principle is again set before us that our great concern ought to be to treasure up the word we have heard in our hearts and to find its appropriate influence upon our lives one other passage in Proverbs chapter 7 verses 1 to 4 my son keep my words lay up my commandments with you keep my commandments and live and my law as the apple of your eye bind them upon your fingers listen to the ne...

35:01 - 36:28 Read in full sermon

The point: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, allowing it to take up permanent, lavish residence in your heart, not just knocking at the door.

Uses the metaphor of the Word of Christ not just knocking at the door but dwelling richly, taking over every room, and living like a king in one's heart. This illustrates the depth and pervasiveness of the Word's desired indwelling.

not so much the word about Christ but the word of which Christ is the giver and author that is all of scripture for it was the spirit of Christ who spoke in the prophets Peter tells us and it is the spirit of Christ who speaks through the apostolic writers the spirit of Christ that is the author of the whole of scripture old and new testament and we are told let this word not merely come and knock at the door of the house of the inner life no but let it dwell let it make its residence let it take up its permanent abode in you and to do so richly in the adverb for translated richly pluseos mean...

40:54 - 42:23 Read in full sermon

The point: Adorn the teaching of God our Savior in all things, ensuring that your life is dressed in the truth you profess to believe.

Compares adorning the doctrine of God our Savior to being 'dressed up in the truth' in every facet of life, rather than merely acknowledging it in a closet. This illustrates the outward expression of inward truth.

to come to us and as it were under the preaching knock on the door of our inner life we are not to be content until it dwells in us and dwells richly and then there's Titus 2 in verse 10 that it is to dwell in us richly to what end that eventually we may adorn it beautifully here after giving many specific directions to many different segments of the church in terms of various genders and age groups and stations in life Paul writing to Titus says in verse 10 after speaking about servants not purloining but showing all good fidelity to what end that they may adorn that they may be dressed up in...

42:23 - 43:51 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not stick the 'diamonds of God's truth' in the 'holy pocket' of worldly conversation or family squabbles; make an effort to preserve them and treasure them up.

A man of modest means is given a priceless diamond but carelessly puts it in a pocket full of holes and later flips it over subway grates. This extended analogy illustrates how people often treat God's invaluable truth with negligence, allowing it to be lost through worldly distractions and lack of care.

as though they were waiting to implement those words but they hear and they do not perform they profess to receive that word but they do not render appropriate acts of obedience and just and Jesus said why do you go on calling me Lord when you are not implementing the directives of my word well I have stated that our central concern in taking heed how we hear after the preaching of the word should be to retain that word in our hearts and to experience its appropriate influence upon our lives I have sought to demonstrate the biblical basis of this assertion from the oft repeated commands the fr...

51:15 - 52:43 Read in full sermon

The point: Labor to get something into your heart by every sermon, some fresh notion or consideration to set you aworked in the spiritual life.

A quotation from a Puritan preacher urging the congregation to 'hide the word in your heart, that it be not embezzled by your own negligence' or 'stolen by the devil.' This reinforces the need for diligent preservation of the Word.

One congregation, over 300 years ago, this is what they heard their preacher say. Do not hear slightly, but hide the word in your heart, that it be not embezzled by your own negligence. Forgetfulness, running into carnal distractions, that it be not stolen by the devil, that he may not snatch away the good seed out of your soul. When the word is preached, there is more company present than is visible.

61:48 - 62:18 Read in full sermon

The point: Take all care and pains that the influences of the preaching of the word do not slide from you, and be faithful and diligent in using all means to fix them in your heart.

Another Puritan quotation warning against letting the influences of preaching 'slide from you' like 'water spilt on the ground,' lest a 'dreadful stroke' of judgment befall them and their children. This emphasizes the serious consequences of neglecting the Word.

Another preacher said to his people, If then you would avoid a judgment which strikes not only at your estates and your lives, but at your souls. If you would prevent that dreadful stroke which may not only reach you, but your children and your children's children. If you would not have them and yourselves and thousands and millions with you bereaved of the gospel. And the means of.

63:24 - 63:51 Read in full sermon

The point: Take all care and pains that the influences of the preaching of the word do not slide from you, and be faithful and diligent in using all means to fix them in your heart.

A Puritan story of two men finding a fruit tree: one takes all the fruit, the other takes the tree and plants it. This illustrates the difference between merely remembering sermon content and planting the Word in the heart to bear continuous fruit.

This is what he said to his congregation. He said, I've read a story of two men walking together. They found a young tree laden with fruit. So they both gathered and satisfied themselves with the fruit at present.

64:35 - 64:48 Read in full sermon