Operations of The Holy Spirit in Preaching #2

Introduction: Review and New Focus

0:03 The following sermon was delivered on Wednesday morning, October 23, 2002, at Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey, during the annual pastor's conference. The preacher is Pastor Albert N. Martin, and this is the second sermon in a series entitled The Immediate Agency and Operation of the Holy Spirit Upon the Preacher. We come in this hour to our second consideration of the subject, The Immediate Agency and Operations of the Holy Spirit Upon the Preacher in the Act of Preaching.

0:43 And in the first session, I introduced the subject by seeking to exegete the key words in the title, and then highlighting several foundational presuppositions with respect to the person of the preacher. I then proceeded to open up two major lines of thought. Number one, the indispensable necessity for the immediate agency and operation of the Holy Spirit upon the preacher in the act of preaching, and then some of the specific manifestations of the Spirit's agency and operations upon the preacher in the act of preaching. And I was able to open up three of them.

1:28 I said I had... At a fourth, I will simply give you the heading and leave you to work out the thought itself, and it was this.

1:35 The Holy Spirit gives us, in the act of preaching, a heightened sense of the absolute authority, sufficiency, and trustworthiness of the Scriptures, which convey a compelling authority to our preaching.

1:54 And I think the whole doctrine that is so clearly articulated in our confession, with respect to the way we know the Scriptures to be the Word of God, it is not by the supporting evidences, but by the ministry of the Spirit attesting to that reality in our hearts. What is true of the average believer, with respect to his confidence that this is the Word of God, comes in a heightened way to the preacher in the act of preaching. Surely you have felt, as I feel at times, 40 feet tall with a sword, 60 feet in width, and you feel you could take on anyone and anything with that sword of the Spirit. Now, it's not a qualitatively different conviction about the Scriptures, but it is a heightened persuasion, which in turn gives a note of authority to our preaching. Well, so much for that little P.S. from the previous hour.

Defining Restrained and Diminished Spirit's Agency

2:49 Now, having covered those first two major headings of the indispensable necessity for this ministry of the Spirit, some of the specific manifestations, of this Spirit's ministry, we come in this hour to what I'm calling some basic reasons for a restrained or a diminished measure of the Spirit's immediate agency and operations upon the preacher in the act of preaching. Some basic reasons for a restrained or a diminished measure of this Spirit's activity. And in seeking to introduce the subject, let me do two things. Let me first of all define what I mean and why I'm using the two words restrained and diminished, and then give a very necessary qualifying statement. I'm using these two words in this way. When something is restrained, it is held back. It never moves in the direction, fully, that it desires to go.

3:56 And I'm trying, by the use of the word restrained, by the use of that word to express the reality that I believe there are men who have never known that measure of the Spirit's immediate agency and operation in conjunction with their preaching because the Spirit has been restrained. They have never come to their full inheritance in Christ as preachers. On the other hand, there are some in whom that agency and operation, is diminished. That is, they have known measures of it that they now no longer know.

4:36 Like Samson, they've gone forth to war and wish not that the Spirit has left them. So that's the sense in which I'm using the two words restrained and diminished. And the necessary qualification is this. Some of these things of the restraining and the diminishing of the Spirit's immediate agency and operations upon a preacher in the act of preaching can only be resolved in the matter of the mysterious, inscrutable, but absolute sovereignty of God.

5:11 We know from church history and Christian biography that there are men who had given periods in their life and ministry were aware of and others were aware of unusual measures of this immediate assistance of the Spirit. But it was very localized time-wise. And as far as we know from their testimony and subsequent history, there was no moral or doctrinal deviation that would have grieved and quenched the Spirit. There were sovereign, unexplained operations of the Holy Spirit in which God was manifesting that He is God.

5:49 And that must constantly be kept before us, and whenever we come to a subject such as seeking to ascertain reasons for a restrained or a diminished measure of the Spirit's immediate agency and operations. However, with that qualification around us, conditioning how we think, I am bold to assert that within that qualifying principle there are yet general and discernible patterns which you and I must acknowledge, and with which we must honestly reckon when we ask the question, why have I not attained a measure of the Spirit's immediate agency and operation in my preaching, or why do I presently know less of that agency than I have known in the past? And so we're going to take up together these basic reasons for this restrained or diminished measure of the Spirit's agency and operation upon us in our preaching. And the first is this. The immediate agency and operation of the Spirit may be restrained or diminished

Reason 1: Not Regarding the Spirit's Agency as Indispensable

7:10 because the necessity for the Spirit's immediate agency and operations are not regarded as indispensable by the preacher himself. This ministry of the Spirit, in conjunction with the act of preaching, can be restrained or diminished when the preacher himself does not regard that dimension of the Spirit's ministry as absolutely essential. Now, we know from our Bibles that the Spirit can come sovereignly even upon a dumb ass, and so operate upon Balaam's ass, its lips, its tongue, its vocal apparatus, that it can speak the very word of the living God. I'm fully aware of that. Saul can be meandering among the prophets, and the Spirit can descend upon him, and Saul prophesies. I'm fully aware of that.

8:16 However, ordinarily, the Holy Spirit, who is a divine person, generally does not come in gracious and copious measures of his agency and power where his presence is not treasured, earnestly sought, believingly expected, and jealously guarded. Ordinarily, he does not come in power where his presence is not treasured, earnestly sought, believingly expected, and greatly treasured. For some, this attitude is the fruit of a false and unbiblical view of preaching that regards the ministry of the Spirit in the study as all that is really necessary. Anything beyond that is quasi-charismatic or bordering on kooky fanaticism, or, hear me carefully, limited to certain types of personalities. I reject that with all my being. Others fail to regard the immediate agency and operation of the Spirit as essential because of a deep core

9:44 of carnal self-confidence which puts them under a dimension of God's curse rather than blessing. One of the passages that has been a lifetime companion with me in conjunction with preaching is Jeremiah 17, Jeremiah 17, 5 to 9. Cursed be the man that trusts in man and makes flesh his arm and whose heart departs from the Lord. And God goes on to describe him in graphic terms like a parched out, burned out, blasted, unfruitful field.

10:19 And that's what some men's ministry is. Because there is not that internal disposition of utter weanedness, from confidence in oneself, or there is, as I've already indicated, a deep persuasion, though they would never articulate it, that the real ministry of the Spirit is in the study. And basically all he does when you're in the pulpit is make sure that you keep your wits about you and you're able to get out from your notes what God has given you in the study. And there is no belief in, expectation for, any specific operation of the Spirit in the act of preaching in the preacher.

11:01 Oh yes, there may be prayer, Lord make the fruit of my study and my work in the secret place fruitful in my people. But there is no expectation of anything fundamentally different to happen in the preacher's own heart, in the preacher's own mind, in the preacher's own tongue. All of the things that we addressed in the previous hour. For others, this evidence of, not really believing in the absolute necessity of that immediate agency of the Spirit is manifested in a lack of the specific focused prayer for that specific ministry of the Holy Spirit. And James 4 is true of their ministries. You have not because you ask not. And when our Lord is stirring up His own to importunity in prayer in Luke chapter 11, He focuses that importunity upon this very thing.

12:07 If you who are evil, Luke 11, 13, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Spirit to those who assume He will work because they are trafficking in truth. He is the Spirit of truth, isn't He? So shall my word be that goes out of my mouth? I can assume, no.

12:29 He gives the Spirit to those who ask Him. And ask Him in what way? In the way described in that context. The man coming at midnight who will not take no for an answer.

12:42 As I said yesterday, I don't introduce much biographical stuff into my preaching. But I do want to introduce an element of biography. Several years ago when my own spirit was convicted that I was not specifically explicitly praying every Lord's day. That I might be filled with the Holy Spirit.

13:10 And that I might know in heightened measures those dimensions of the Spirit's ministry we addressed in the previous hour. As best I know my heart, I wasn't going into the pulpit confident in myself, confident in my notes, confident in my preparation. I was going prayerful. But I got convicted that I was not taking Luke 11, 13 at face value.

13:33 And I said, Lord, this has got to change. And I began to do something that has become a precious ritual to me. I live about 18, sometimes 20 minutes if I catch the lights, from the church building. And I began every Lord's day morning once I drive by the restaurant that is on the adjacent far end of our property and I pray for the restaurateur, a man that I have a good relationship with and I've made that Sunday morning trip by the restaurant a trigger point to pray for my friend Gregorio.

14:05 That God will save him. I ought to get some of my Italian friends to go down and speak to him in the proper language. But I pray for him. And then having prayed for him, I have this little ritual of two songs that focus upon praying specifically to be filled with the Spirit.

14:22 And one of them has these words, With thy Spirit fill me. With thy Spirit fill me, Lord. Possess me now, I pray. And with thy Spirit fill me.

14:33 And so I've made up a lot of my own verses What will happen if God fills me? I'll be filled with love. So then I have my verse Let with compassion fill me. If the Spirit fills me, I'll have boldness.

14:44 With great boldness fill me. I'll have unction. And I've made up a whole bunch of my own verses. And I sing out this litany to God Sunday morning by Sunday morning.

14:55 And people who have sat under my ministry for a number of years it's been very interesting have indicated in their own way that they have sensed a heightened measure of the enablement of the Spirit of God in the last several years. I believe whatever else is wrapped up in the mystery of God's sovereignty that's part of the answer. I came to the place where I took the words of Jesus at face value. I ask you, my brother, do you have a deep-seated conviction that there is such a ministry of the Spirit to be experienced in preaching?

15:39 And do you treasure that ministry? Do you earnestly seek it? Do you believingly expect it and jealously guard it? Or does God leave you to the mercy of your own pathetic resources as a curse upon your subtle form of creature confidence?

Reason 2: Grieving the Holy Spirit

16:06 I leave you to work out that question before God. But now, secondly, there is a second reason for this restraining, for this diminishing of the Spirit's operations and agency upon the preacher and the act of preaching, and it is this. This ministry of the Spirit can be restrained or diminished because the Holy Spirit is being grieved by the preacher. Because the Holy Spirit, divine person, is being grieved by the preacher.

16:43 And here, of course, I'm referring to Ephesians 4 and verse 30. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit whereby, in which, or in whom you were sealed unto the day of redemption. And when the theologians and the exegetes have gone all around the mulberry bush talking about anthropopathisms and all of the rest, what does it mean, don't grieve the Spirit? It means don't grieve Him.

17:15 He is a person who in his personhood reacts to certain situations with a disposition that has a kinship with what we experience as grief. And with all due limitations and the rest. My brothers, if God meant to convey something that has no relationship to our felt experience of grief, why did He use the word? He didn't put it there to be bled of all its significance and have a God who's up and beyond and outside any feeling akin to my feeling of grief.

17:59 He says, do not grieve the Holy Spirit for a grieved spirit becomes a restrained or a withdrawn spirit. Not withdrawn as to his indwelling for those in whom he dwells are sealed by his very indwelling. Unto the day of redemption. But grieved and withdraws his free operations the same way when your wife is grieved by your boorishness.

18:29 There's withdrawing of her openness, her transparency, her free flow of affection. She doesn't pull her ring off and throw it out the window. She doesn't go get a lawyer and divorce you. Till death do us part.

18:44 But a grieved wife is a withdrawn wife. Don't grieve the spirit. It's the height of cheekiness to be grieving the spirit in an area of life and ethical controversy with God and then to pray for his special assistance and presence and power in preaching. That's a form of pagan manipulation of the divinity.

19:09 Stop it. How is he grieved? Well, in the context of Ephesians 4 he is grieved by unresolved ethical aberrations. Whether Godward or manward.

19:21 Verse 25 to 32 is dealing with unresolved ethical aberrations. Godward or manward. That's the context. But I suggest, brethren, he is grieved by more than those things identified in the immediate context.

19:37 In broader terms, since he is the spirit of truth and he has come to bear witness to truth and give unction and power to the servant of truth who is speaking his truth, surely he is grieved when we are lazy and careless in the handling of his truth. When we come before our people without having done the work necessary to say with as much confidence as a fallible, limited human being can say, this is what God said and this is what God means when he said it. Sloppy exegesis. Careless sermon construction that presents the truth sloppily, fuzzily thought out and then ask God, the Holy Spirit of truth, to give special assistance to own with blessing the fruit of your sloppy work? He is grieved when what we come into the pulpit to give in his name, is not the fruit of careful, arduous, painstaking labors to present his truth. Furthermore,

21:04 he is the spirit, I like to think of it in this way, what is the Holy Spirit's most delightful work? He does many things. And in the mystery of the oneness of triune will generically and triune will redemptively, there is this beautiful coalescence of all the persons of the Godhead in the scheme of redemption. Of the grace, yes, but may I ask the question without being blasphemous.

21:30 If you were asked the Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, what is your most delightful work? He would answer to shine upon the face of God the Son, to make Jesus glorious, to make Jesus precious, to make the work of the Son cherished and loved and appreciated in the hearts of men. And he hovers, as it were, over our pulpits, wringing his hands with expectation, saying, Am I going to be able to do my most delightful work today? Is the preacher going to give me some stuff with which to do my work?

22:13 I've got the lights all ready to turn them on and flood them on. Jesus! Will they put him out so I can put the floodlights on him? Where is he grieved? Where is Jesus? Where is the work of Christ?

22:32 Where is the person of Christ? Are the duties articulated going to be traced back to Christ for sufficiency and motivation unto that duty? Are the privileges going to be traced back to Christ, the great fountainhead of all redemptive privilege? The Holy Spirit is grieved when our sermons aren't full of Christ.

22:58 Don't grieve him. Don't expect the Holy Spirit to come with, heighten measures of his agency and operations when we grieve him, not only by laziness in our preparation and what we present as truth, but when we move from the nerve centers of all truth. We grieve him. And so there are times when there is a restrained or a diminished measure of the Spirit's immediate impact.

Reason 3: Quenching the Holy Spirit

23:37 Agency and operation, because the Spirit is grieved. But then thirdly, the immediate agency and operation of the Spirit may be restrained or diminished because the Spirit is being quenched by the preacher himself. The Spirit is being quenched by the preacher himself. He is praying that there may be this immediate agency and operation of the Spirit, but he is quenching the very spirit.

24:09 The spirit for whom he has prayed. And here, of course, my text is 1 Thessalonians chapter 5,

24:20 where the apostle writes in verse 19, Do not quench the Spirit, and look at the context, despise not prophesying, prove all things, hold fast that which is good. While the imperative is given to all of the people of God, there at Thessalonica, in whatever situation in which they could be guilty of quenching the Spirit, they are not to do it. It's clear that the context draws us to a consideration of gifts of utterance. For immediately upon the imperative, do not quench the Spirit, we are told, don't treat prophesying lightly. Don't despise that utterance of the Spirit that comes in the assembly in the form of prophecy. It could be, and some commentators, such as the commentators, one that I recently consulted, suggests that where there were these aberrant strands of teaching with regard to the second coming, and Paul says in his second letter, if something comes telling you the day of the Lord has already come, or is right at hand, and it comes by way of letter or spirit, or supposed message from us, maybe somebody was standing in the assembly, and with a tremulous voice, and with, apparently, some afflatus of heaven, was faking a prophecy. And so the people got to the place and said,

25:49 phooey, if we're going to get that kind of nonsense, forget prophecy, man, it's dangerous stuff. So he said, no, don't treat legitimate prophecies lightly. And then he goes on to say, prove all things, put everything to the test. In the context, I believe he's pointing to every public utterance that claims to be a word from God.

26:11 Put it to the test, hold fast that which is good. So in using this text with special reference to us as preachers, I do not believe, I am forcing it out of its universe of discourse. I believe the context warrants that use. Now, having established that, I trust in your judgment, whatever the full significance may be, surely it means something like this.

26:37 There are some operations of the Holy Spirit in conjunction, in conjunction with gifts of public utterance that are analogous to fire, all right? If you do not put out the fire of the Spirit, there's something the Spirit does that is analogous to fire. That in so, then please tell me what the text means. Do not quench or put out, throw water upon, dampen the fire of the Spirit.

27:13 So there are operations of the Holy Spirit, particularly in conjunction with matters of utterance of God's truth analogous to fire. And that these operations must not be snuffed out, but be given full latitude to burn in the pursuit of truth.

27:40 No amens. Okay, now, thank you.

27:47 He said, oh man, you say amen too? Yeah, good, amen, all right.

27:53 Now, seriously, brethren, that leads us to the question, then how is the Spirit quenched in connection with a man's preaching?

28:04 If we are under a divine mandate, do not put out the fire of the Spirit. Don't quench the Spirit. As clear a mandate as Ephesians 4.30, do not grieve the Holy Spirit.

28:18 Let me make some suggestions. As to how the Spirit is quenched in connection with the act of prophesying, small p, preaching. Number one, by refusing to make specific efforts to cultivate and improve our gift of preaching. By refusing to make specific efforts to cultivate and improve our gift of preaching.

28:50 You have the negative injunction, in 1 Timothy 4.16, neglect not, Timothy, the gift that is in you, but the positive injunction, 2 Timothy 1.6, that brings us back into the imagery of fire.

29:05 Stir into flame the gift of God that is in you.

29:14 What a strange conjunction of ideas. It's the gift of God that is in you. There has been the impartation by the Spirit, of a specific gift of utter instimity. Stir it into flame.

29:30 It's God's gift, but you have a stewardship to see it burn as brightly and as fiercely in the interest of truth as is possible by prayer and pains and dependence upon the Spirit who gave it.

29:46 And I believe the Spirit is quenched in us when we reach a plateau. We've got our style. We've got our method. We've got our way.

29:55 And because there's no rumbling to get rid of us, we coast.

30:04 For immediately upon the imperative, do not quench the Spirit. We are told, don't treat prophesying lightly. Don't despise that utterance of the Spirit that comes in the assembly in the form of prophecy. It could be in some commentators, one that I recently consulted, suggest that where there were these aberrant strands of teaching with regard to the second coming, and Paul says in his second letter, if something comes telling you the day of the Lord has already come or is right at hand, and it comes by way of letter or spirit or supposed message from us, maybe somebody was standing in the assembly and with a tremulous voice and with apparently some afflatus of heaven was faking a prophecy. And so the people got to places and said, phooey, if we're going to get that kind of nonsense, forget prophecy. Man, it's dangerous stuff. So he said, no, don't treat legitimate prophecies lightly.

31:05 And then he goes on to say, prove all things, put everything to the test. In the context, I believe he's pointing to every public utterance that claims to be a word from God. Put it to the test. Hold fast that which is good.

31:21 So in using this text with special reference to us as preachers, I do not believe. I am forcing it. I am forcing it out of its universe of discourse. I believe the context warrants that use.

31:33 Now, having established that, I trust in your judgment. Whatever the full significance may be, surely it means something like this. There are some operations of the Holy Spirit in conjunction with gifts of public utterance that are analogous to fire.

31:54 All right? If you cannot put out the fire of the Spirit, there's something the Spirit does that is analogous to fire. That is so, then please tell me what the text means. Do not quench or put out, throw water upon, dampen the fire of the Spirit.

32:18 So there are operations of the Holy Spirit, particularly in conjunction with matters of utterance of God's truth, analogous to fire. And that these operations, these operations, these operations, these operations, these operations, these operations must not be snuck out, but be given full latitude to burn in the pursuit of truth.

32:46 No amens. Okay. Now, thank you.

32:52 You say amen too? Yeah, good. Amen. All right.

32:58 Now, seriously brethren, that leads us to the question then, how is the Spirit quenched in connection with a man who is a sinner? If we are under a divine mandate, do not put out the fire of the Spirit. Don't quench the Spirit. As clear a mandate as Ephesians 4.30, do not grieve the Holy Spirit. Let me make some suggestions as to how the Spirit is quenched in connection with the act of prophesying, small p, preaching. Number one, by refusing to pray, by refusing to make specific efforts to cultivate and improve our gift of preaching. By refusing to make specific efforts to cultivate and improve our gift of preaching.

33:55 You have the negative injunction in 1 Timothy 4.16, neglect not, Timothy, the gift that is in you, but the positive injunction, 2 Timothy 1.6, that brings us back into the imagery of fire. Stir into flame the gift of God that is in you.

34:19 What a strange conjunction of ideas. It's the gift of God that is in you. There has been the impartation by the Spirit of a specific gift of utter intimacy. Stir it into flame.

34:35 It's God's gift, but you have a stewardship to see it burn as brightly and as fiercely as it is. In the interest of truth as is possible by prayer and pains and dependence upon the Spirit who gave it.

34:51 And I believe the Spirit is quenched in us when we reach a plateau. We've got our style. We've got our method. We've got our way.

35:02 And because there's no rumbling to get rid of us, we coast.

35:11 We don't listen to ourselves preach and critically analyze our sermons. We don't submit them to better and more objective critics than ourselves and say, brother, be ruthless with me. Be ruthless with me. What patterns do you see that if changed could make this gift more effective?

35:30 I want to stir it into flame. And when you don't, to some degree, you're quenching the potential flame of the Spirit in conjunction with that gift. You're violating the imperative. Don't quench the Spirit.

Quenching the Spirit by Slavish Attachment to Notes

35:46 You can quench the fire of the Spirit in conjunction with your preaching by neglect of the gift God has given. But then, secondly, and here I launch out into uncharted waters. I've never gone publicly. But this didn't come in the impulse two days ago in the middle of the night.

36:10 This is the first time I've ever given concentrated, specific, public utterance to what I'm going to say. But in a sense, it's been 40 years in coming. And it's this.

36:24 The Spirit can be quenched by a carnal and slavish attachment to the labors of the study. And I'm going to show how every word's been chosen carefully. The Spirit can be quenched by a carnal and slavish attachment to the labors of the study rather than a self-controlled and rationalized and rational yielding to the unplanned insights and impulses of the Spirit given to us in the act of preaching.

37:07 Now let me run it by again. The Spirit can be quenched by a carnal and slavish attachment to the labors of the study rather than a self-controlled and rationalized and rational yielding to the unplanned insights and impulses of the Spirit given to us in the act of preaching. Now let me explain my meaning. I'm assuming that under ordinary circumstances each of us comes to the act of preaching with the careful prayerful preparation of the study accompanying us.

37:56 Right? Now how it accompanies us differs. And you see with the way I've stated it I don't get into the moot question of a manuscript outline, skinny outline, fat outline, memorized. All I'm saying is I'm assuming that each one of us comes to his pulpit under ordinary circumstances bringing with him the fruit of the labors of the study whether in the form of a full manuscript or in detailed outlines such as I have with me here or a brief skeleton or a memorized text or a memorized outline.

38:33 We all bring with us the fruit of the labors of the study. And we ought to. In addition, I'm assuming we have sought the aid of the Spirit in our labors in the study and that we desire to share the fruit of those Spirit-assisted labors in our pulpits by, by a present assistance of the Holy Spirit. But, so far so good.

39:03 But I'm also ready to assert that we ought to come to our pulpits not only bringing with us the labors of the study committed to convey those to our people but with the prayerful expectation that in the gathering of the people of God in the context of the promised presence of Christ that Christ Himself will be present in such a way that there will be unplanned and unpredictable dimensions of His activity by the Spirit that will necessitate something other than a carnal and slavish attachment to the labors of the study. And if we don't come with that disposition again again and again and again we will be quenching the Holy Spirit. Now I want to read a quotation from Pierre Marcel's excellent little book The Relevance of Preaching. I don't endorse everything in it but I shall never forget the first time I read these words.

40:15 They acted like a bucket of cold ice water on my face on a snowy day. And they stunned me and they shocked me. And for weeks I carried this quotation folded over in the fly leaf of my Bible and during the offering I would read it and I would have dealings with God concerning it. Listen listen to Pierre Marcel at a section in his treatment of preaching where he's underscoring this thing that I've been preaching about teaching about lecturing about preachers and believers alike must pray that the Spirit who alone can turn the word of man into a word of God may work forcefully from the beginning of the worship to the end. Now he writes but it is not enough to beseech the Spirit. He is not a diffuse force which spreads out in all directions as the heat of the sun in which can be channeled and annexed. The Spirit is a living and free person.

41:20 It's necessary therefore when invoking His presence to allow Him His freedom of action. This leads us to make a few ticklish remarks and to ask a few questions. How are the preacher and the believers going to depend on the Holy Spirit and leave to the Spirit of the Church His freedom in the very act of preaching? So he's dealing with the subject I've been attempting to lay before you.

41:46 Now he answers the Holy Spirit being the free Spirit of the Father and the Son to what must the preacher's relationship with the Holy Spirit lead since it is the Spirit who takes the things of the living Christ and communicates them to us. And then he goes to a number of passages several passages which had peculiar relevance to the apostles and peculiar relevance to the servants of God in times of unexpected emergency when delivered before councils etc. the Spirit will give you in that hour. He has an excellent footnote on those who object to even using the principles that and applying it to preachers and I think his case is compelling.

42:26 Then he goes on to say this does not therefore mean an indirect dependence on the Spirit a repetition of what Christ has already said during preparation and before the worship hour preparation and even redaction writing rewriting constitute only a preliminary part to preaching. It means rather that the preacher in the company of the people of God is to yield himself a malleable and living organ for what Christ by the Spirit wills him to say to those who hear. If Christ is left free there will be times when he will constrain the preacher to add delete and modify in form or even in content such and such portion of what he intended to say but which he cannot now say. If the preacher is and remains dependent upon his manuscript or upon his memory there is not just one prisoner. There are two. The preacher and the Spirit and through the Spirit Christ himself.

43:39 The written or memorized text of the sermon at this moment exercises its dominance. Christ through the Spirit is not free to sound out the scriptures in the study to prepare to write to reflect to pray on the one hand and to preach on the other are different distinct acts which employ the distinct and complementary interventions of the Spirit. One cannot replace the other. And then you know what he does?

44:14 He hides under Spurgeon's skirt like I've been doing. And then he has a most humorous quote from Spurgeon. I do not censure my brother for his mode of preaching but I confess that it seems very odd to me when a brother prays that the Holy Ghost may help him in preaching. Then I see him put his hand behind him and draw out a manuscript out of his back pocket so fashioned that he can place it in the middle of his Bible and read from it without being suspected of doing so.

44:46 These precautions for ensuring secrecy look as though the man was a little ashamed of his paper but I think he should be far more ashamed of his precautions. Does he expect the Spirit of God to bless him while he's practicing a trick? And how can he help him when he reads out of a paper which anyone might read without the Spirit's aid? What is the Holy Ghost to do with this business?

45:09 Truly, he may have had something to do with the manuscript in the composing of it but in the pulpit his aid is superfluous. The truer thing would be to thank the Holy Ghost for assistance rendered in preparing the manuscript and that what he has enabled us to get into our pockets may now enter into the people's hearts.

45:27 Still, if the Holy Ghost should have anything to say to the people that's not in a paper, how can he say it by us? That's the point. The paper is the master. The Spirit is the prisoner.

The Spirit's Freedom and Unplanned Insights

45:40 Brethren, this is not fanaticism. That's why I use the terminology that in the act of preaching there will be those things that we will express that are rational and self-controlled.

45:56 But they were not in the notes. And in the living interaction with the people of God in the presence of the living Christ.

46:07 Point two that we thought we'd get through in ten minutes. There is an expansion, an ignition in the living current with our people. Applications flood into the mind, not out of nowhere. It's the stuff over which you've labored.

46:23 But there is an intensification of the birthing process where only two specific pointed applications to your people came in the study, in the act of preaching, two or three more come on your feet and you know your people and you know the relevance. You're not just blethering fanatical gush. But if you're so determined that your neat sermon will get preached out, you're quenching the spirit. Preach your ragged, unneat sermon and have the Holy Ghost in power, present, giving His word to the people.

47:04 Why do we quench the spirit in this way? Well, let me give you three reasons. As I seek to wind this thing down, before I wind up. Number one, this is a noble thing.

47:18 There's an excessive fear of saying something stupid.

47:23 There's an excessive fear of saying something stupid. We don't trust ourselves to get away from what we've hammered out in the study. And many times, that's a good caution. But if it's such a caution that when there is that sense of the expanded heart and the expansion of the heart, and the expansion of the heart, and the expansion of the heart, expanded mind. And we're seeing truth more clearly. Again, you see, I'm not talking about stuff coming out of nowhere. This stuff is all gestated in the study. The mind and the spirit have been interacting with our Greek text and with our helps to our Hebrew exegesis.

48:00 We're not up here being ranting for now. The Holy Ghost said, the Holy Ghost. No, we're not talking about that. But we are talking about an amplified increased dimension of insight, brethren.

48:11 Does the Holy Ghost give that to you just for you to smother it and swallow it? Or is that the living Christ who's feeding his sheep? Don't imprison the living Christ by an excessive fear of saying something stupid. Oh, there will be times when in those patches you will say something stupid.

48:30 You can always get up Sunday night and confess it. I've done it many a time. Many a time. Many a time.

48:38 But I believe there's an awful lot that's helped God's people. Sent them home fed. And because I've mortified the fear of saying something stupid. Secondly, it's a lack of faith.

48:54 It's a lack of faith. You really don't believe that God who is giving that additional insight, that more penetrating analysis of the passage, that more relevant, pointed, diffusive application of the passage, you really don't believe that Christ is giving that for the good of the people. It's a lack of faith. But I believe the major cause is right here. Now I'm going to stick my neck out.

49:20 It's unmortified pride of how you look as a preacher. You've got this nice, neat sermon. It better be neat. What are you getting paid for?

49:30 Not to come up with sloppy sermons. And you had this passage you thought was particularly neat. And I mean, the alliteration and the combination of words came so nicely. Oh boy, that'll really go over well. And you know, if you expand where the Holy Spirit has given you fresh light, you may not get to your very nice passage in your sermon. And you may have to do some juggling on your feet. Many a time I've had to recompose. Well, how do I get from point two to the conclusion that assumed point three? And the time is gone.

50:03 It'd be insensitive to carry on. What is the Holy Ghost to do with this business? Truly, he may have had something to do with the manuscript and the composing of it, but in the pulpit his aid is superfluous. The truer thing would be to thank the Holy Ghost for assistance rendered in preparing the manuscript and that what he has enabled us to get into our pockets may now enter into the people's hearts.

50:28 Still, if the Holy Ghost should have anything to say to the people that's not in a paper, how can he say it by us? That's the point. The paper is the master. The spirit is the prisoner.

50:41 Brethren, this is not fanaticism. That's why I use the terminology that in the act of preaching, there will be those things that we will express that are rational and self-controlled.

50:58 But they were not in the notes.

51:01 And in the living interaction with the people of God, in the presence of the living Christ,

51:08 point two that we thought we'd get through in ten minutes, there is an expansion, an ignition in the living current with our people. Applications flood into the mind, not out of nowhere. It's the stuff over which you've labored. But there is an intensification of the birthing process, where only two specific pointed applications to your people came in the study, in the act of preaching.

51:37 Two or three more come on your feet, and you know your people, and you know the relevance. You're not just blethering fanatical gush. But if you're so determined that your neat sermon will get preached out, you're quenching the spirit. Preach your ragged, unneat sermon, and have the Holy Ghost in power, present, giving His word to the people. Why do we quench the spirit in this way? Well, let me give you three reasons as I seek to wind this thing down. Before I wind up. Number one, this is a noble thing. There's an excessive fear of saying something stupid.

Reasons for Quenching the Spirit (Continued)

52:24 There's an excessive fear of saying something stupid. We don't trust ourselves to get away from what we've hammered out in the study. And many times, that's a good caution. But if it's such a caution, that when there is that sense of the expanded heart, and the expanded mind, and we're seeing truth more clearly. Again, you see, I'm not talking about stuff coming out of nowhere. This stuff is all gestated in the study. The mind and the spirit have been interacting with our Greek text, and with our helps to our Hebrew exegesis. We're not up here being ranting for now.

53:03 The Holy Ghost said, the Holy Ghost. No, we're not talking about that. But we are talking about an amplified, increased dimension of insight, brethren. Does the Holy Ghost give that to you just for you to smother it and swallow it? Or is that the living Christ who's feeding sheep? Don't imprison the living Christ by an excessive fear of saying something stupid. Oh, there will be times when in those patches you will say something stupid. Boys, get up Sunday night and confess it. I've done it many a time. Many a time. Many a time.

53:42 But I believe there's an awful lot that's helped God's people. Sent them home fed because I've mortified the fear of saying something stupid. Secondly, it's a lack of faith. It's a lack of faith.

53:57 You really don't believe that God who is giving that additional insight, that more penetrating analysis of the passage, that more relevant, pointed, diffusive application of the passage, you really don't believe that Christ is giving that for the good of the people. It's a lack of faith. But I believe the major cause is right here. Now I'm going to stick my neck out.

54:21 It's unmortified pride of how you look as a preacher. You've got this nice, neat sermon. It better be neat. What are you getting paid for?

54:32 Not to come up with sloppy sermons. And you had this passage you thought was particularly neat. And I mean, the alliteration and the combination of words came so nicely. Boy, it'll really go over well. And you know, if you expand where the Holy Spirit is giving you fresh light, you may not get to your very nice passage in your sermon. And you may have to do some juggling on your feet. Many a time, I've had to recompose. How do I get from point two to the conclusion that I assume point three? And the time is gone.

55:05 It'd be insensitive to carry on. So you tell your people, say, for the life of me, I don't know how in the world to wind this thing down, but I don't have time for point three. It assumed in my final application, so we're going to pray and go home. Be honest. Be honest.

55:23 Forget your stinking reputation for being a neat homiletician.

55:28 Forget it. Go to a place called Calvary and ask God to nail it there. Be Christ's free man. I'd rather preach a sermon that has the touch of the immediacy of the Spirit of God with its lack of neatness than neat little niceties. And brethren, I think you know me well enough to know I don't believe in sloppy preaching.

55:56 Pride. Unmortified pride.

Conclusion and Call to Action

56:00 You quench the Spirit. Well, our time is gone. I trust you've been challenged with respect to this whole matter of the immediate agency and operation of the Holy Spirit upon the preacher in the act of preaching that where necessary, there will be a confession of the sins of ignoring the reality of this dimension of the Spirit's work. For some of you, I would not be surprised that there may be some of you if you allow the Word of God to take its proper root in your heart in this area, you will have dealings with God that would probably fit what other people describe as a baptism of the Spirit. I don't believe their description's right. I have no sympathy for Dr. Lloyd-Jones' doctrine of the Holy Spirit. I have no sympathy for the charismatic view of the Spirit.

56:54 I have no sympathy for the All I'm saying is some of you have so ignored him that just beginning to acknowledge the necessity and the desirability of his immediate aid and coming to God in earnest prayer and expectancy, something's going to happen to you in your preaching that you will be an altogether different man. I believe that. For others of you, you've been grieving him, and there's been a diminishing. Your discerning people know the due of God doesn't rest on you now.

57:29 As it once did.

57:33 And some who are kind and want to think the best say, well, he's getting older. Probably poops out a little sooner in the study. And they're giving very gracious excuses. But God knows and you know. I see nothing in my Bible that says age must result in a diminishing of spiritual life and power. One of my favorite passages is Psalm 92. They shall bring forth fruit unto old age. They shall be full of sap and green.

58:06 I say, Lord, make me a sappy preacher. Make me a green preacher to show that the Lord is righteous. He is my God and there's no unrighteousness in him. My brother, you know where you've been grieving the Spirit.

58:23 Things that once you would have been shocked at to let your eyes see in your television, you now watch with impunity. There's ethical, moral controversies you have with God. And it's shown when you stand up Sunday morning.

58:38 In God's name, I beg you, deal with the ethical aberrations. Go in repentance. Plead that God will cleanse you afresh in the blood of his dear Son. Some of you have been quenching the Spirit.

58:52 You've not been doing it willfully and wantonly. You've had a mixed up view of the study and the pulpit. And you thought that the pulpit was nothing more or less than an extension of the study. And I've challenged that assumption. And I hope I've challenged it with the Bible. And this will drive you to your Bible and drive you to your knees. And you'll be frightened to death at the thought while seeking to preach Christ, you imprison Christ by simply locking yourself in to no expectation but that which has been the fruit of your time in the study. May God stir us up to pray more, to expect more.

59:37 And by the grace of God, in this age that says preaching's passe, in this age that says, one-way authoritative communication is totally out of joint with the mindset of Generation Xers, I'm still convinced that preachers that stand aglow with the truth, liberated by the Holy Spirit, when what they preach dances and sings and throbs with heavenly life, they're going to be heard. They're going to be heard. May God grant that we shall all be such men. Let's pray.

60:17 Our Father, we thank You for these hours we have spent together this morning, and we earnestly pray that out of them will come reflection, examination of Your Word, examination of our own hearts, and that in many pulpits in the coming days there will be evident fruit from our time together. Thank You for one another. Thank You for Your goodness in bringing us together. Continue with us the coming hours of the day.

60:47 We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.