After the Sermon Part 5

The point: Preach and listen as one who believes in the reality of death and the grave.

Martin shares a personal reflection on his drive to church, realizing that one day it will be his last, and that the congregation will hear the words 'before Pastor Martin comes' for the last time. This serves to sober the listeners and impress upon them the brevity of life and the importance of hearing God's word seriously.

Following message was delivered on Sunday morning, October 8th, 1995, at the Trinity Baptist Church of Montville, New Jersey. As I made my way to this building in my car this morning, I was struck afresh with the thought that one day will come when that pleasant ride from Cedar Grove to Montville by way of Horse Neck Road will be made by me for the last time. And when Pastor Lamar said, and now before Pastor Martin comes to minister the word of God, he or someone else will say that for the last time. And you who sit here and hear. You who sit here and hear the words before such and such a one ...

0:03 - 1:14 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Though they do all of this they come before you they sit before you they hear your words but do them not. For with their mouth they show much love much love for God and his word and his servant and preaching and prophesy…

Martin contrasts the typical secular topics of conversation (sports, celebrities) with the spiritual fervor of Ezekiel's audience, who were talking about hearing the word of Jehovah. This highlights the apparent spiritual health of the people, which is later revealed to be superficial.

if all the passage says, said is what I've read up until now, and you and I were neutral observers, we would say, surely the nation is in a healthy spiritual state, if not in the midst of a revival. For as one would move amongst the people, he would find that the talk of the hour was not who had won how many games in the playoffs of the National or American League, not how many games of the National or American League, not how many games of the National or American League, not how many games of the National or American League, not how many games of the National or American League, not how love...

13:27 - 14:07 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Though they do all of this they come before you they sit before you they hear your words but do them not. For with their mouth they show much love much love for God and his word and his servant and preaching and prophesy…

Martin describes the common disappointment of evangelists when people promise to come to church but then back out with flimsy excuses. This is contrasted with Ezekiel's audience, who not only talked about coming but actually showed up and listened attentively, further emphasizing their outward spiritual engagement.

How many of us in the world trying to witness to people and bring the gospel to them and bring them under the sound of the gospel have worked with them and for them and finally elicited a promise that yes, I'll come to church with you on Sunday only to find that when we called them up according to arrangement they had some flimsy excuse and they backed out of their commitment and our hearts sank in disappointment. But not so at this time in the ministry of the prophet. They not only talked about coming, the scripture says in verse 31 and they actually come unto you as the people come and when ...

14:58 - 16:16 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Though they do all of this they come before you they sit before you they hear your words but do them not. For with their mouth they show much love much love for God and his word and his servant and preaching and prophesy…

Martin explains that Ezekiel's audience treated his preaching like a 'weekly or daily spiritual concert,' enjoying his pleasant voice and delivery without any intention of obeying the message. This illustrates the danger of aesthetic appreciation of preaching without genuine submission to its truth.

In other words Ezekiel all of this excitement by the walls and in the homes and this talk about going up to hear the word of Jehovah all of this ordering of priorities to be gathered when you hold forth and speak in my name all of this apparent attention and riveted concern to know my words Ezekiel don't be deceived they have not come with an intention to have their lives molded by my word to have their sins rebuked with a view to repenting of them to have their duty set forth with a view to performing it their hearts are full of covetousness and there is no desire to repent of their covetousn...

18:29 - 19:58 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Though they do all of this they come before you they sit before you they hear your words but do them not. For with their mouth they show much love much love for God and his word and his servant and preaching and prophesy…

Martin compares Ezekiel to a skilled musician like Itzhak Perlman, whose performance can thrill an audience even if they don't understand the content. This reinforces the idea that people can be captivated by the preacher's skill without being moved to obedience by God's word.

instrument called the human voice when it's legitimate can sit for hours enwrapped with that marvelous instrument pouring forth its sounds often in a tongue utterly unknown to us singing sentiments utterly unintelligible to us and yet we're thrilled to the point of goose bumps up and down our back he says you've become like one who sings like one who with a pleasant voice and how many of us with very limited musicology can sit and watch an Itzhak Perlman blended as one with his violin and that smile playing off the corner of his lips and his closed eyes and one with his fiddle playing somethin...

19:58 - 21:25 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that crunch time comes when what we hear must be done with our feet, hands, eyes, tongue, and heart, and that a life pattern of not doing God's words makes our profession a house built on sand.

Martin uses the analogy of a general addressing privates who call him 'general' but refuse to stand at attention or follow orders. This illustrates Jesus' frustration with those who profess Him as 'Lord' but do not obey His commands, highlighting the hypocrisy of their profession.

significance is found in the very question of Jesus why do you call me why do you address me with language that acknowledges the dignity of my person and professes submission to me as your sovereign and you are not in the why whose language that if it were an expression of reality would find you in a pattern of universal obedience to me not perfect obedience but universal detailed meticulous conscientious obedience why do you use in your reference to me language that bespeaks a recognition of the dignity of my person and the rights of my government when the pattern of your life negates the pro...

27:16 - 28:45 Read in full sermon

The point: Make the doing of the word the main business of your life, affecting, penetrating, and pervading all other business and pleasure.

Martin uses a humorous personal example of claiming to be 'King Albert' to illustrate self-delusion. He argues that just as such a claim would be delusional, so too is the person who hears the Word but does not do it, believing themselves to be a true Christian.

and in so doing to make myself a deluded person I can engage in activities which put me in the path of self delusion so that my assessment of myself is not according to reality if I came before you this morning with a 50 point outline seeking to persuade you that I was a long lost undiscovered heir to the throne of the United Kingdom and that I ought to be there in Buckingham Palace as King Albert the kindest thing I think most of you would say is well that trigeminal neuralgia that was bothering in this past week I think has crept up into his brain and he is deluded he's deluded and if I were...

42:00 - 43:26 Read in full sermon

The point: Make the doing of the word the main business of your life, affecting, penetrating, and pervading all other business and pleasure.

Martin quotes John Stone's commentary on James 1:22, which explains that 'doers of the word' refers to a habitual occupation, making the doing of the word the 'main business of their lives,' affecting all aspects of their existence. This provides a rich definition of what implementation truly entails.

doers of the word and not hearers only deluding your own selves do you want to be as deluded about who and what you really are as I would be were I to claim to be King Albert then just get in a pattern of being a hearer and not a doer that's all that's all you don't need to somewhere beckon the devil and say oh Satan great deceiver and destroyer of the souls of men I want to enter into league with you to help me into a course of self delusion that will wreck and ruin and damn me you don't need to do that just come week after week and here week after week and don't do and you've already deluded...

43:26 - 44:54 Read in full sermon

The point: Make the doing of the word the main business of your life, affecting, penetrating, and pervading all other business and pleasure.

Martin paints a vivid picture of a 'doer of the word' in various daily scenarios: at work (punching in on time, diligent, avoiding ungodly conversation), at home (sensitive to his wife's burdens, loving his children). This illustrates how implementation pervades every department of life, not just 'sacred' activities.

love and patience according to the measure of his faith he will be a doer of the word that's how you describe him he's a doer of the word how do you explain the way that guy conducts himself in the shop always punching in on time always at his bench undistracted diligent doing what he does with all of his faculties and when coffee break comes he's not found sitting with the guys thumbing through the latest girly magazines listening to the latest jokes he's either entering into innocent conversation trying to engage people at levels of friendship and concern asking questions about the family ab...

46:23 - 47:52 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not congratulate yourself for doing the word, but rather be most conscious of your failures and sins, seeking God's mercy.

Martin describes how a true 'doer of the word,' far from congratulating himself, is most conscious of his failures and sins at the end of the day, confessing shortcomings in his work, marriage, and parenting. This illustrates that implementation leads to humility and a deeper sense of dependence on God's mercy, not self-righteousness.

because he knows the word says fathers nurture them in the chastening and admonition of the Lord you describe him in that simple terminology he's a doer of the word and there's not a text I've quoted in your hearing that has not been expounded in detail in this place some of them repeatedly and yet I have not described you why not why not you those words you if you name the name of Christ you are self deluded I didn't say it the Holy Ghost said it through the pen of James now does he come to the end of the day that doer of the word and get on his knees and go through a stretching exercise get ...

49:21 - 50:50 Read in full sermon