True Preaching: Fundamental Characteristic

The point: Pray for the restoration of scriptural truth and the reanimation of vital piety, but not as fanatics or hyper-Calvinists, recognizing God uses ordinary means.

Martin quotes John A. Broadus's work on sermon preparation, stating that no great religious movement or restoration of truth has occurred without new power in preaching, serving as both its cause and effect. This sets the stage for the sermon's emphasis on the importance of true preaching.

But to attempt to handle this subject in one lecture, with any degree of comprehensiveness and balance, to a group of men who come from a diversity of backgrounds, who sit here tonight with a diversity of perspectives, on some of the most fundamental issues relating to preaching, in those circumstances it would almost border on presumption to make the effort. But I trust that in mutual dependence upon the Spirit of God, and with a determination to concentrate all of our faculties upon this most critical issue, that we will grapple together with this vast subject, and by the grace of God, throu...

0:41 - 2:06 Read in full sermon

The point: Pray for the restoration of scriptural truth and the reanimation of vital piety, but not as fanatics or hyper-Calvinists, recognizing God uses ordinary means.

Martin uses the examples of fanatics and hyper-Calvinists to illustrate incorrect approaches to prayer for revival, emphasizing that God uses ordinary means, including preaching, to answer prayers for spiritual advancement.

However, we do not pray for these things as fanatics, nor do we pray for them as hyper-Calvinists, that is, as those who expect God to answer those prayers without the ordinary means being used in the granting of that answer. It is surely a matter of faith that we must pray for these things, but we must not pray for them as fanatics, nor do we pray for them as hyper-Calvinists. As the elements of gracious sovereignty are stamped on every period of revival and powerful advancement of truth, so the elements of a gracious wisdom are stamped upon those same periods of revival and reanimation of pi...

3:38 - 5:04 Read in full sermon

The point: Maintain utmost honesty, care, assiduity, perseverance, and caution in handling the word of truth, remembering we are heralds not to adjust or trim the message.

Martin quotes Robert L. Dabney's work on preaching, defining the preacher as a herald who merely transmits and explains the king's message, not inventing or criticizing it. This reinforces the concept of integrity in handling God's Word.

as a herald and conducted himself in the realm of that self consciousness bound up in that whole concept was integrity with respect to the content of the message conveyed to him and so you and I are under solemn obligations to obey the command to herald the word we are to hold fast the form of sound words or in the language of Titus we are to hold fast to the faithful word as we have been taught now it's not very flattering for a man to announce a message and then being asked tell me sir where does the message come from to say it doesn't come out of my own mind it doesn't come out of the minds...

20:57 - 22:25 Read in full sermon

The point: Maintain utmost honesty, care, assiduity, perseverance, and caution in handling the word of truth, remembering we are heralds not to adjust or trim the message.

Martin uses the metaphor of putting Scripture 'on a torture rack' to describe how ignorant and unstable people distort the Word of God, emphasizing the need for careful and honest handling of truth.

is a herald his work is heralding the king's message the herald is a herald the herald is a herald the herald is a herald but of old ambassadors were no other than heralds now the herald does not invent his message he merely transmits and explains it it is not his to criticize its wisdom or its fitness this belongs to his sovereign alone and brethren if we are to engage in that self-conscious identity that is ours as heralds always seeking to maintain the strictest integrity in relationship to the content of our message this is what the apostle paul is saying again in the text reading your hea...

22:25 - 23:54 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second element is authority, derived not from personal whim or inherent worth, but from being duly appointed by God. Martin argues that a preacher must have a well-grounded…

Martin uses a humorous anecdote of a wife nudging her husband to be a herald for notoriety to illustrate that a true herald's authority does not come from personal whim or desire for attention, but from divine appointment.

Or the fact that when he got up in the morning his wife nudged him and said, Dear, I'd like a little notoriety in the village today. Won't you go in please and fulfill the role of a herald and get a little attention from the folk in the village? No, no. No, no.

30:00 - 30:15 Read in full sermon

The point: Have a well-grounded, scripturally based conviction of the legitimacy of your call to the ministry, tracing it down with judgment day honesty, rather than relying on external pressures or sentimental wishes.

Martin provides examples of illegitimate calls to ministry (praying grandmother, sentimental parents, pastor's pride) to highlight why many men speak with little authority, stressing the need for a well-grounded, scriptural conviction of one's call.

And so it is with us brethren. We must have a well-grounded, scripturally based conviction of the legitimacy of our call to the ministry. And I am personally convinced there are many men who speak with no or little authority because they have never been willing to trace down with judgment day honesty the legitimacy of their call to that solemn office. The pressure of a praying grandmother, the sentimental wishes of mama and daddy, or perhaps the well-meaning intentions of the pastor who liked to put notches in his rifle and say very modestly, well, the Lord's been good to us. We've got seven f...

32:17 - 33:16 Read in full sermon

The point: Have a well-grounded, scripturally based conviction of the legitimacy of your call to the ministry, tracing it down with judgment day honesty, rather than relying on external pressures or sentimental wishes.

Martin uses the analogy of a herald questioning the validity of his activity, thinking he needs magic tricks or a stage to get attention, to illustrate how preachers might doubt the power of simple proclamation and resort to unbiblical methods.

Furthermore, we must have a consciousness of the validity of the activity to which we are called. On his way into the village, you see, if the herald begins to question, well, this is the silliest thing in all the world. How am I going to get the attention of my fellow citizens simply by opening up my mouth and speaking?

33:47 - 34:07 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine your preaching: Is the note of authority present? This is not about volume or gesture, but a self-conscious awareness of being sent by God.

Martin quotes Gardner Spring's 'The Power of the Pulpit,' which describes ministers as divinely commissioned ambassadors who speak with an authority imposed by God, not usurped, and whose message is God's truth, not their own. This powerfully reinforces the concept of divine authority in preaching.

In his classic work entitled The Power of the Pulpit, Gardner Spring speaks so perceptively to this dimension of what constitutes true preaching. He says the ministers of the gospel are the appointed ambassadors of the head and king of the church. He sends them on their great and responsible errand. They possess authority to publish his gospel in his name, which belongs exclusively to themselves.

34:54 - 35:26 Read in full sermon

The point: Pray for increasing measures and sustaining grace for boldness, recognizing it's a gracious and powerful working of the Spirit, not a one-time reception.

Martin recounts the story of Samuel Davies rebuking King George III during a sermon, saying, 'When Jehovah speaks, let the kings of the earth keep silence.' This vividly illustrates biblical boldness in confronting earthly power with divine truth.

Whatever measures of boldness he had known in the past, he is conscious that he must have increasing measures and the sustaining grace of God, even to maintain the degrees already experienced. Paul could say, if I should yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ. One of the most thrilling examples of this kind of boldness is set before us in an incident that Gardner Spring records concerning Samuel Davies, preacher of another generation, then president of the College of New Jersey, which is now Princeton University, where he is now, is not what was then, but in the process of evolu...

40:45 - 42:13 Read in full sermon

The point: Deal with the sins of our people with boldness, speaking in terms that cause consciences to smile, rather than in an oblique or veiled way to salve our own consciences.

Martin uses John the Baptist's direct rebuke of Herod ('It is not lawful for you to have her') as an example of true boldness, contrasting it with a timid, oblique allusion to sin. This shows the cost and nature of genuine prophetic speech.

Because that was said in that spiritual context. Brethren, it is this element again that is so desperately needed in our day. It is one thing to make a passing allusion to the sins of our generation. It is another thing to speak of them in such terms as to cause the consciences of men to smile. It would have been one thing for John the Baptist to stand before Herod and to say, Mr. Monarch, have you considered that perhaps in some way or another there may be a remote possibility that you may be a bit left of center of the norms of the Word of God?

43:25 - 44:15 Read in full sermon

The point: Deal with the sins of our people with boldness, speaking in terms that cause consciences to smile, rather than in an oblique or veiled way to salve our own consciences.

Martin uses Nathan's confrontation with King David ('Thou art the man') as another example of boldness, highlighting the courage required to directly indict a powerful individual for their sin. This reinforces the need for directness in preaching.

That's what cost him his head. Oh, Nathan, standing before the monarch, who has all of the army at his disposal, and says to his incensed king who has no sense of anger at his own sin, but at this hypothetical sinner, Thou art the man. I say, brethren, it is one thing to deal with the sins of our people in an oblique and in a veiled way in order to salve our consciences that we are faithful to our trust. It's another thing to speak in such terms as we find John and Nathan speaking with boldness. Then there is this fourth characteristic of the person who is self-consciously fulfilling the role ...

44:33 - 45:42 Read in full sermon

The point: If blessed or cursed with unusual wit, harness your carnal humor under the tight reign of your identity as a herald, lest it neutralize the Spirit's blessing upon your preaching.

Martin uses the imagery of Mount Sinai's thunders and lightnings and the 'gore of Gethsemane and the prods of Golgotha' to illustrate the profound seriousness of God's law and the cross, arguing that no one 'jiggles' or 'titters' in their presence. This emphasizes the solemnity required in preaching.

You can't tickle men into the king's hand. The law and the gospel must operate at the deepest levels of their consciousness as well as their understanding, their affections and their wills. No man ever stands giggling beneath the thunders and lightning of Mount Sinai. When a sinner begins to take seriously the claims of the almighty over him, claims exemplified in that summary of God's moral demands in those ten words, then he begins to realize that those words touch the deepest springs of thought and desire and feeling. And he sees himself stripped in the presence of God. No man jiggles benea...

49:10 - 50:01 Read in full sermon

The point: If blessed or cursed with unusual wit, harness your carnal humor under the tight reign of your identity as a herald, lest it neutralize the Spirit's blessing upon your preaching.

Martin shares a personal anecdote of sitting under a preacher whose 'carnal humor' caused the 'sword of the Spirit' to fall from his hand, preventing a wound to the conscience. This illustrates how humor can neutralize the serious impact of the message.

My brother, am I speaking to someone who has been, shall I say, blessed or cursed with an unusual measure of naked wit? You have the kind of mind that sees the incongruous and the ludicrous in everything. My brother, if that is not harnessed and under the tight reign of this self-consciousness of your identity, your carnal humor may be the very thing that is withholding the blessing of the Spirit of God upon your preaching. I have sat under men who under God wielded the sword of the Spirit and just as the point was there upon my conscience and heart and it was about to be thrust the titter of ...

51:53 - 52:55 Read in full sermon

The point: If blessed or cursed with unusual wit, harness your carnal humor under the tight reign of your identity as a herald, lest it neutralize the Spirit's blessing upon your preaching.

Martin quotes A.W. Tozer, who said he had to choose between being a prophet or a clown, as he knew he couldn't be both. This reinforces the necessity of seriousness and discipline for a herald of God.

I shall never forget either hearing him preach or reading it somewhere dear. A.W. Tozer who's gone to be with the Lord saying early in his life he had to make the choice either to be a prophet or a clown for he knew he couldn't be both.

52:58 - 53:12 Read in full sermon

The point: If blessed or cursed with unusual wit, harness your carnal humor under the tight reign of your identity as a herald, lest it neutralize the Spirit's blessing upon your preaching.

Martin recounts observing A.W. Tozer consciously swallowing down humorous thoughts while preaching, demonstrating the discipline required to maintain seriousness and not neutralize the message's influence. This serves as a powerful example for pastors.

And I have sat as close as some of these brethren are sitting here where that man was preaching and seen the twinkle in his eye and the little bit of mirth in the corner of his lip and seen him consciously swallow down one humorous thing after another that was no doubt forcing itself up into his consciousness and what a lesson it was to me of the discipline of a man who knew I'm a herald of God. I dare not give pen to humor that would neutralize the influence of the message I bear.

53:14 - 53:48 Read in full sermon