Gifts of Utterance, Part 2

Introduction: The Basic Elements of Sanctified Utterance

0:02 The following lecture is part of the pastoral theology course given at the Trinity Ministerial Academy in Montville, New Jersey.

0:11 Now, having set out the biblical basis for what I've called the necessity for gifts of sanctified utterance, we come now, brethren, to the second major division of our study, namely, the basic elements which comprise a gift of sanctified utterance. And may I just underscore what has already been covered in a previous lecture, that we remember the source of these gifts is ultimately God, but the method by which he imparts them extends all the way from our conception to the mental and spiritual cultivation of the present hour.

0:52 And so, in wording the various headings, I've labored to try to bring together those biblical concepts in the very way... in the very way I state these heads.

Element 1: Ability to Secure a Listening Ear

1:03 So, the basic elements that comprise a gift of sanctified utterance, according to my present understanding, are four. Number one, a natural, acquired, and cultivated ability to speak so as to secure the listening ear of the average person. Number two, a natural, acquired...

1:38 and cultivated ability to speak so as to secure the listening ear of the average person.

1:54 Now, why I've chosen those words will become clear as I open up the heading. On the one hand, I am not saying that one's ability to speak must make him a temptation to people in the way that Ezekiel became a temptation to people. For you'll remember, that in Ezekiel 33 and verse 32, one of the indictments God brought upon the house of Israel was this.

2:23 Ezekiel 33, beginning with verse 31. And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words. In other words, Ezekiel had their ears, but they do them not. For with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain, and lusts...

2:45 lo, this is why they came and listened to him. Thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument, for they hear thy words. You speak with such pleasantness, with such eloquence, with such clarity, with such convincingness, such winsomeness. You have their ears, but the words you speak don't touch their hearts.

3:17 They hear thy words, but they do them not. And so it would be going far beyond what Scripture says to say that a man must have a natural, acquired, and cultivated ability to speak so as to secure the listening ears of all people, regardless of whether they are hearing, or not. Those men with such gifts are rare in the church of Christ, and often are a snare in the church of Christ. But on the other hand, a man whose faculties of speech, in spite of all

3:57 that modern microsurgery can do to loose a tight tongue, to straighten out and to even enlarge, to pick up and下and bend his upper teeth in fear of the asynchronously f nouvelles perfumes 인지 of But if a man whose faculties of speech, in spite of all that modern surgical technique can accomplish, disciplined effort and prayer can produce, who can only be listened to by the most devoted and highly motivated, then he is not called to trouble with these great difficulties in living and dying. You pray for me and know that the only thing I have and do not want to be made into power straight Abdul Cohen because he would rather know the 이야기 international or I prepare me for an expedient. You have a clear vision which I cannot cloves of vessels to get都是 mis erecto. But what battle could just as good make you good for that developing power, much more difficult to serve as best as I give or to observe. Will He, still dismayed,

4:40 called to labor in the word and in teaching. If the average person does not find it easy to listen to him, then he is not called to labor in the word and in doctrine. For example, one of my dearest friends is a godly young man with cerebral palsy, and his speech is radically affected, and he has labored. And in the inner circle of his closest friends, he has even taught Bible studies. But it would bring nothing but unnecessary reproach to Christ were he to attempt to occupy an

5:25 ordinary pastoral preaching and teaching ministry. I have other friends who, in spite of all the surgical procedures, the problems connected with a cleft palate, and an unusual nasality, and the reason I am not imitating it is because I don't want to intrude anything that would even border on the humorous in conjunction with this. But suffice it to say that the average person cannot give a listening ear to such impediments. Now, Dabney has stated this principle in a most balanced way in volume two of his discussions in his article on the call to the ministry, page 37.

6:09 One, once more, the incurable stammerer, the man of totally diseased throat, the man who cannot acquire the capacity of speaking in public without a slowness, rudeness, confusion, or hesitation painful to the hearers, is not called to preach. Public speaking is one of the most prominent functions of the pastor, but there is scarcely any quality of speech that can be called to preach. There is no qualification about which young Christians are more apt to reason delusively. The promise of fluency in early manhood is no sufficient proof of fitness for the pulpit,

6:52 and the lack of it at that season is no evidence whatever of unfitness. Experience shows that many who early win the reputation of, quote, the college orator, end quote, in actual life sink into obscurity, and many who go through college without a particle of reputation for their own good, are not able to do so. The college orator, end quote, is not able to for fluency become afterwards useful as effective speakers, and let the reader remember that a minister may be effective without being melodious, Ezekiel, polished, Isaiah, or graceful. No young man whose vocal organs are not fatally maimed is entitled to conclude, because he is now unskilled,

7:36 that he cannot learn to speak to edification. On the contrary, he should conclude that he can learn to speak, no matter what his difficulty, if only he will endeavor and persevere. Such is the emphatic testimony of Lord Chesterton to his son, and he declares that his own eloquence, of no mean fame in his day, was wholly the result of his perseverance. There was a candidate for the ministry in the Presbyterian church who, even after he commenced his seminary course, stammered painfully, but he resolved by God's help to conquer the obstacle, and he is now a most fluent and impressive extempore preacher. There is a most mischievous mistake as to the nature of good

8:21 speaking. It is but unaffected, serious, perspicuous talking. I'm glad somebody else likes my word perspicuous. That which is simplest is best, even though it uses perspicuous. That language which

8:35 presents the idea with the most transparent, naturalness is the best style. Now you see what Dabney is saying. He is saying we don't make quick assumptions, and that's why I've chosen my words carefully. What is the first basic element comprising a gift of sanctified utterance? A natural, acquired, and cultivated ability to

9:00 speak so as to secure the listening ear of the average person. Isn't this what Dabney is saying? He is saying we don't make quick assumptions, and that's why I've chosen my words carefully. 1 Corinthians 14.9 is saying Paul articulates this great principle with regard to the gifts of public utterance

9:19 which are unto edification. 1 Corinthians 14 and verse 9. So unless you utter by the tongue speech easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air. Now he doesn't say you must utter by the tongue speech, beautiful and elegant to

9:49 aesthetic taste, but it must be easy to be understood. There is God's rule, and since his ordinary method is to take the weak things to confound the mighty, and the things which are not to bring to naught the things that are, it is not often that God combines in one man the kind of a man who is a man of God. He is a man of God. He is a man of God. He is a man of God. He is a man of God.

10:11 1 Corinthians 14.9 is a mellifluous voice that I'm sure some of you coveted the moment you heard Richard Pike open his mouth, and you say, oh, I'd love to have a voice like that. Rarely does God combine that kind of a voice with the imaginative, poetic mind of a Spurgeon, with the physical presence of certain preachers I've seen described to a six-foot-four or five, the physical presence of the poor man who's the poor, Edward Irving. They said when the man just walked into the pulpit, you felt awed by his physical stature. Well,

10:41 Rarely does God combine those things. Why? Because he ordinarily takes the weak to confound the mighty, and the things that are not to bring to naught the things that are, that no flesh should glory before him. But even though he takes the weak, he does not take the ludicrous.

10:57 Because the ludicrous cannot capture the ears. And no matter how warm a man's piety may be, and sincere his motives, if his faculties of speech, by nature, by the acquisitions of special training, modern surgery, and prayer and pains, cannot capture the average person's ear for a tolerable length of time, he must conclude that whatever else God has called him to do, he has not called him to labor in the word and in teaching. Spurgeon again speaks with great sagacity to this point. On page 36, and 7,

11:43 in his chapter on the call to the ministry, physical infirmities raise a question about the call of some excellent men. I would not, like Eusthenes, apparently this was one of the Greeks, judge men by their features, but their general physique is no small criterion. That narrow chest does not indicate a man formed for public speech. You may think it odd, but still I feel very well assured, that when a man has a contracted chest with no distance between his shoulders, the all-wise creator did not intend him habitually to preach.

12:20 If he had meant him to speak, he would have given him some measure of breadth of chest, sufficient to yield a reasonable amount of lung force. Now obviously some of that is dated, because of modern voice assistance mechanisms. When the Lord means a creature to run, he gives it nimble legs. And if he means another creature to preach, he will give it suitable lungs.

12:46 If a brother who has to pause in the middle of a sentence, and work his air pump, should ask himself whether there is not some other occupation, for which he is better adapted. A man who can scarcely get through a sentence without pain, can hardly be called upon to cry aloud and spare not. There may be exceptions, but is there not weight in the general rule? Brethren, Brethren with defective mouths and imperfect articulation are not usually called to preach the gospel.

13:20 The same applies to brethren with no palate or an imperfect one. Application was received some time ago from a young man who had a sort of rotary action of his jaw of the most painful sort to the beholder. His pastor commended him as a very holy young man who had been the means of bringing some to Christ. And he expressed the hope that we would receive him.

13:44 But I could not see the propriety of it. I could not have looked at him while preaching without laughter if all the gold of Tarshish had been my reward. And in all probability, nine out of ten of his hearers would have been more sensitive than myself. A man with a big tongue which fills up his mouth and causes indistinctness, another without teeth, another who stammered, another who could not pronounce all the alphabet.

14:09 I've had the pain of declining, on the ground that God had not given them those physical appliances which, as the prayer book would put it, are generally necessary. Now you see again, some of those things modern surgical technique can correct. And I believe if a man is activated by proper motives and encouraged by his overseers, it may yet be attained. But I come back to my premise.

14:39 A natural, acquired, cultivated ability to speak so as to secure the listening ear of the average person is an indispensable element of a gift of sanctified utterance.

Element 2: Ability to Express Thoughts Clearly and Convincingly

14:56 All right? Now we move to the second of these elements. And I'm describing it this way. A natural, acquired, and cultivated ability, a natural, acquired, and cultivated ability to express, to express, to express one's thoughts clearly and convincingly to the average person.

15:27 A natural, acquired, and cultivated ability to express one's thoughts clearly and convincingly to the average person.

15:42 Now again, I've chosen my words carefully. Some elements to express one's thoughts clearly and convincingly were implanted in our mother's wombs. Some were acquired by the general formative influences which impinged upon us in the providence of God in the most plastic periods of our lives. Some are acquired by conscious, deliberate pursuit.

16:15 Others are cultivated by conscious, deliberate disciplines. But by what? By whatever combination of these things, that is, natural, acquired, and cultivated. By whatever combination of these things, one called of God to labor in the Word will be able to speak out his thoughts in such a way as to be understood and to have his judgment, his hearer's judgment convinced that what he asserts is substantial and worthy of assertion.

16:58 Without this element, how can he be called an apt or a competent teacher? What makes a man a competent teacher? The ability to take a body of information that is clearly understood in his own mind and to deposit it clearly understood in the mind of his hearer. That's what makes an apt teacher.

17:20 Whether a man's four foot six, or seven foot eight, whether he speaks in a bass voice, whether he speaks with a high voice, what makes a man an apt teacher is he's able to take a body of information that is clearly understood in his own head and transfer it into another man's head equally clearly understood. And how then can a man be called an apt teacher who lacks that ability? How can he comfort, that is, exhort, incite to action, exhort, motivate to godliness, or bring the heretic and his heresy to the bar of his own judgment and have himself convicted

18:03 if he cannot express his thoughts clearly and convincingly to the anti-Legos, to those who speak against, the gainsayers, the heretics. Again, Jeremiah 3.15, I will give them shepherds who will feed them with knowledge and with wisdom. I will give them shepherds who will feed them with knowledge and with wisdom.

18:24 I will give them shepherds who will feed them with knowledge and with understanding. Not with verbal gobbledygook and confusion.

18:31 Not serving up biblical and theological hash so you don't know where the strings of meat are and where the pieces of potato are. It's all just jumbled up and popped on the plate. Christ does not give such men to cause his sheep to suffer. He gives them shepherds who will feed them with knowledge and understanding because he loves them.

18:55 He loves his sheep.

18:59 Therefore, if a man is not given the ability, both in terms of what was programmed into him and that which is acquired and cultivated to express himself with orderly arrangement, clarity of expression, sufficient fluency, so that his thoughts can be tracked and followed and absorbed, God has the power to do what he wants to do. He does not call that man to preach. Some of you have heard in another section of the course this incident, but I couldn't come up with a better illustration, so since our Lord repeated illustrations, there's biblical precedent for doing it. It was the incident where a young man went

19:44 to the famous Dr. Parker, convinced that he didn't really carry the day when he had preached on the Lord's Day before, and Dr. Parker gave him admission and gave him what we would call a counseling appointment, and he came to the famous Dr. Parker, and he said, something is wrong, Dr. Parker.

20:01 I preached yesterday, but I sensed I simply did not come across. The people were obviously not edified. I'm wondering if you can help me. And Dr. Parker said to the young man,

20:10 well, probably the best way I can help you is to have you preach yesterday's sermon to me right here in my study. So the young man was a little bit taken aback, but he went ahead and he preached his sermon. Dr. Parker said, I see your problem, young man.

20:23 He said, well, what is it? He said, for one half an hour, you have been struggling, to get some thoughts out of your head rather than spending a half an hour putting some clear thoughts into my head.

20:37 You've been struggling to get some thoughts out of your head rather than putting some thoughts into my head. What was this man's problem? He lacked a natural, acquired, and cultivated ability to express his thoughts clearly and convincingly to the average person. And unless something radical happened, in that area, he's not called to preach because he's not an apt teacher.

Element 3: Ability to Be Received as a Messenger of God

21:03 He's not able to teach and to convince and to convict the gainsayer to feed with knowledge and with understanding. All right? Then the third of these elements in the gift of utterance is this. A natural,

21:24 now notice the change in wording, a natural and conferred ability to speak. To be received as a messenger of God without torturing the discernment of the people of God.

21:44 A natural and conferred ability to be received as a messenger of God without torturing the discernment of the true people of God.

22:00 Now when an elder laboring in the word and in doctrine stands to speak, he does so in the framework of the words of Jesus. John 13.20 Whosoever he that receives whosoever I send receives me. Where Christ sends his men, Christ's people hear their Savior's voice speaking in his servants.

22:29 And as a result, the unique apostolic dimensions notwithstanding, this is what happens. 1 Thessalonians 2.13 For this cause we also thank God without ceasing that when you receive from us the word of the message, even the word of God, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God which also works in you that believe. When you receive from us the message, you received the word of God.

23:06 Those who were Christ's true people first of all discovered in their effectual calling and then in their being gathered into the fledgling church at Thessalonica, they heard the voice of their heavenly shepherd in one of his sent ones and they received the messenger and the message because there was both a natural and a conferred ability to be recognized for what's he was, namely a servant of the living God. Now what are those things which are discerned by the people of God in the utterance

23:51 of one who is truly called and sent by God? And here I wrestled and wrestled and wrestled and I'm still wrestling but I think there's two things I'm prepared to say in faith. A year from now I may be able to say more but I can say these two things in faith. Number one, the true people of God will recognize these two commodities, spiritual authority and personal edification.

24:19 Number one, spiritual authority. You remember what set our Lord apart there in the end of Matthew chapter 7? And it came to pass when Jesus had finished these words, the multitudes were astonished at his teaching. Why?

24:38 He taught them as having authority and not as, as their scribes. The scribes trafficked in quotations from the rabbis. And they had their whole scheme and their multiplied schema of rabbinical traditions. And one rabbi was set against another.

25:02 And the word of God was buried beneath a rubble of rabbinical quotes. And when Jesus came speaking with artless simplicity saying, I say unto you, and the rubble was pushed away and the word of God stood out in bold relief. They said, here's one who speaks with authority. Now, amongst God's true people, there's a recognition as a general rule, there are individual exceptions I know, as a general rule, the people of God will recognize the voice of authority in one who is truly given a good, a gift of utterance

25:46 from the head of the church. And that's why I combine these two things. A natural, there may be many factors, again, that are part of a man's genetic programming, part of his development, et cetera, but then there is something that is sovereignly conferred when the head of the church is forming a man and giving a man as a gift to his church a conferred ability to be received as a messenger of God without torturing the discernment of God's people, without making them sit there saying, how in the world can this guy think he's called to preach? Where in the world are the people that have laid hands upon this man, at least tentatively?

26:30 What is wrong with them? But rather, with all of the crudeness, with all of the rough edges of a man, even in his elementary period of training, they will sit there and say, there's some rough edges, there's some crudeness, but I tell you, there's authority. They recognize the voice of authority, and secondly, they experience personal edification. Why?

26:57 Because Christ gives pastors and teachers Ephesians 4.11 for the edifying, for the mending of the saints, for the equipping of the saints, and under that ministry they are edified. They may not, they may not be impressed, they may not be awed, they may not be swept off their feet, but they're edified. And according to 1 Corinthians 14, that's the acid test of a God-given gift being exercised in a God-given way.

27:30 Let all things be done unto edification.

27:34 And that is one of the clear indications that God has given a gift of utterance. Listen to Owen speaking to this. Volume 4, page 513. Volume 4, volume 4, page 513, and it's listed as point number 4.

27:53 There's actually a number 4 in parentheses. Hereunto also belongs that authority which accompanieth the delivery of the word when preached in demonstration of these spiritual abilities. For all these things are necessary that the hearers may receive the word not as the word of man, but as it is in truth, the word of God. Now, ideally, these are the things which should be seen in one's own assembly before ever being commended to this place.

28:34 Then, as the tools are required and opportunities given, then they will be more and more evident. But somewhere along the line, it must become plain before a man, whoever allows himself to be recognized as an elder in any sense, let alone an elder to labor in the word and in teaching, that God has given both a natural and a conferred ability to be received as a messenger of God without torturing the discernment of the people of God.

Element 4: Supernatural Endowment of Divine Unction

29:12 And the fourth and final, and I do believe I'm going to have time to conclude on time,

29:18 and here's the most difficult. We were talking about it in the coffee room in the break. A supernatural endowment of the Holy Spirit enabling one to speak with divine unction. A supernatural endowment of the Holy Spirit enabling one to speak with divine unction.

29:48 Now, this, I say, is the most elusive element in this matter, of a God-given facility of utterance, and yet it is the most vital. On the one hand, the biblical data indicating the special endowment of the Spirit, essential to a call to labor in the word, is clearly taught in the scriptures. We first of all start with the example of the incarnate God himself. There is no record that he ever opened his mouth in any way, any official capacity

30:31 in his messianic function and identity until there was a unique, a special endowment of the Spirit in conjunction with his preaching. Isaiah 61. The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me because he has anointed me to preach goodness, good tidings unto the meek. And you'll remember that in Luke chapter 4, after he came back from the visible coming of the Spirit upon him in the waters of Jordan, driven into the wilderness, he comes back

31:14 to his hometown of Nazareth. This passage is read, and our Lord then says, today this scripture is fulfilled. And it was, in the case of our Lord, an endowment that, that occurred at a specific place, at a specific time. It was an epical event in the life history of our Lord Jesus.

31:39 Now, we have no warrant to reason from that that we must have an equally dramatic, time-framed, epical, spiritual experience. I want to state it in the plainest terms possible. I do not believe there is any biblical warrant for making such an assertion and then using our Lord as the paradigm. But the great principle is that he who was conceived by the Spirit in Mary's womb, upheld and filled with the Spirit as to his perfect humanity throughout the entirety of his lifetime is yet given

32:22 a peculiar endowment of the Spirit equipping him for his public life. The Holy Spirit is the most important element of ministry, the prominent element of which emphasized in Isaiah 61 is being anointed to preach, to proclaim, to preach, and to proclaim.

32:45 And then we have, of course, the experience of the apostles. In their case, again, there are elements in redemptive history which meant there had to be distinct times and places, and I fully understand that, but don't overthink it. Overlook the underlying principle. Ye shall receive power, Acts 1.8,

33:07 the Holy Spirit coming upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me. And the emphasis there of the Spirit's ministry falls upon witness-bearing. And as you read through the book of Acts, Peter, filled with the Spirit, spake, saying, and then these two pivotal texts from the lips or the pen of the Apostle, 1 Corinthians 2.3, I was with you in weakness and fear and in much trembling, and my speech and my preaching were not with enticing words of men's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not rest in the wisdom of men,

33:51 but in the power of God. And 1 Thessalonians 1.4 and 5, knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God, how that our gospel came not unto you, in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost, and in much conviction.

34:09 So you have the example of our Lord, the example of the self-conscious spiritual experience of the Apostles, but then you have the explicit description of the crowning equipment for a minister of the new covenant. The explicit description of the crowning equipment of a minister of the new covenant. 2 Corinthians 3 verses 4 to 6. Such confidence have we through Christ to Godward, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to account anything as from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who made us sufficient as ministers

34:52 of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. The new covenant ministry is not only a ministry which under the blessing of God conveys the Spirit. Receive ye the Spirit by the works of the law or the hearing of faith.

35:17 It is glorious in that it is the conduit by which the Spirit is conveyed in conjunction with the Gospel. But it is also a ministry marked by the one proclaiming that new covenant. The covenant privilege and salvation in the power and in the demonstration of the very Spirit who is promised as the crowning gift and blessing of that covenant.

Corroborating Testimony on Divine Unction

35:47 We'll add to this biblical witness the corroborating testimony of solid, non-charismatic, rational, proven guides in experimental Calvinistic divinity. Don't try to take notes on that. I just had a little fun with describing these fellows. The corroborating testimony of proven men.

36:10 That'll suffice. Listen to Thornwell writing in volume 4, pages 27 and 28 on the call of the minister.

36:23 It is a popular error proceeding from defective views of a call to the ministry and indicated in our prayers and our whole theory of ministerial training that we must look principally to young men as the persons whom God shall select to become the pastors and rulers of his people.

36:43 These novices, thus early ascertained of their vocation, are to be trained and educated for the profession of a preacher as other young men are trained and educated for the bar or for the forum. We expect them to be called early that they may go through the discipline which we conceive to be necessary and hence we limit our prayers to this class of persons. Lord, lay your hand upon young men. That's what he's talking about.

37:09 But if the call be divine, it must be sovereign and it must impart a peculiar fitness and unction of the Holy Ghost which alone can adequately qualify for the duties of the office. If it be sovereign, it may extend to all classes and all ages, to young and old, rich and poor, to all professions and pursuits, to publicans at the receipt of custom, lawyers at the bar, merchants, at the desk, and physicians in their shops. We are not authorized to limit God's spirit in this more than in any other department of his operations. He can call whom he pleases and we should pray for an increase of laborers without respect to the classes

37:54 from which they are to spring. Then again, as to their training, the old adage is certainly true. Whom God appoints, he anoints. Whom God appoints, he anoints.

38:07 Now listen, listen to Thornwell. The characteristic qualification for the ministry, the unction from on high, is the immediate gift of the Holy Ghost and cannot be imparted by any agency of man.

38:27 Human learning is necessary. The more the better. But human learning cannot of itself make a preacher. Discipline is necessary.

38:36 But discipline is not divine power and is only an incidental help. The whole routine of theological education supposes a previous fitness in the subject which it may aid but cannot impart. And would to God that these words of Thornwell were emblazoned over every seminary classroom door. The characteristic qualification for the ministry, the unction from on high, is the immediate gift of the Holy Ghost and cannot be imparted by any agency of man.

39:16 Then we turn from Thornwell to Spurgeon. And Spurgeon writes on page 186 in my version of his lectures to my students on the Holy Spirit in conjunction with our ministry. To us as ministers the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential. Without Him our office is a mere name.

39:42 We claim no priesthood over and over again. We are above that which belongs to every child of God. But we are successors of those who in olden times were moved of God to declare His word, to testify against transgression and to lead His cause. Unless we have the spirit of the prophets resting upon us, the mantle which we wear is nothing but a rough garment to deceive.

40:07 We ought to be driven forth with abhorrence from the society of honest men for daring to speak in the name of the Lord if the Spirit of God does not rest upon us. That's strong language. We believe ourselves to be spokesmen for Jesus Christ appointed to continue His witness upon earth. But upon Him and His testimony the Spirit of God always rested.

40:35 And if it does not rest upon us we are evidently not sent forth into the world as He was. And then he draws analogies again. From Pentecost as a principle with no sympathy with modern charismatic nonsense because he then goes on to say I absolutely eschew all thoughts of special revelation I've written in my margin disclaimer of direct revelation after speaking of real bona fide function of the Holy Spirit. Then let me give you a quote from Owen to Buttress at the mouth of two or three witnesses.

41:13 Volume 9 pages 454 and 5. Volume 9 pages 454 and 5.

41:29 I have it here right in front of me.

41:32 Authority is required. He's speaking of the duties of the pastor and the requisite gifts needed to fulfill the duty. What is authority in a preaching ministry? It is a consequence of unction not of office.

41:47 The scribes had an outward call to teach in the church but they had no unction. No anointing that could evidence that they had the Holy Ghost in his gifts and graces. Christ had no outward call but he had an unction. He had a full unction of the Holy Ghost in his gifts and graces for the preaching of the gospel.

42:07 Herein there was a controversy about his authority. The scribes say unto him by what authority do you do these things? Who gave you this authority? The Holy Ghost determines the matter.

42:19 Matthew 7.29 He preached as one having authority and not as the scribes. They had the authority of office but not of unction. Christ only had that.

42:32 And preaching in the demonstration of the Spirit which men quarrel so much about is nothing less than the evidence in preaching of unction in the communication of gifts and grace unto them for the discharge of their office. For it is a vain thing for men to assume and to personate authority. So much evidence as they have of unction from God in gifts and grace so much authority they have and no more in preaching. And let everyone then keep within his bounds.

What Divine Unction is NOT

43:11 Now when we ask the question the $64 question How does one know that he has a supernatural endowment of the Holy Spirit enabling him to speak with divine unction? Well I want to say negatively it has nothing necessarily to do with animation in preaching, eloquence, volume, fluency,

43:45 while it may be reflected in all of these. You say that's not much help.

43:54 Well at least it's true. Unction has nothing necessarily to do with animation, eloquence, volume, or fluency while it may, be reflected in all of these. Now, why do I say that? Well, I want to give you a ludicrous but real, live, bona fide example. It's not apocryphal because it happened to me. A number of years ago,

44:17 I was preaching out in Pennsylvania. And afterward, a man came down the aisle and he had that look in his eye. I've learned to recognize that look in the eye of someone who's a little bit left of center or right of center, whichever you prefer. And he wanted to take me aside. I said, yeah,

44:36 I've nailed, I've pegged him right to something fishy coming. And he very, very seriously whispered in my ear, he said, Brother Martin, he said, I know the whole night as you preach. I said, well, my brother, I believe God was with me and helped me. But tell me, how did you know? He looked around

44:57 as if he wanted no one to know his secret. And I kept a straight face. I did better than you're doing. I said, you watched my feet. He says, oh, yes, I watched your feet. And I noticed all the

45:12 while you preached, your feet were moving. And he said, I've noticed. And whenever a man is full of the Holy Ghost, he can never keep his feet still when he preaches. That man was dead serious. To him, unction meant you had hot feet. He was dead serious. I didn't

45:31 have the heart. Maybe the courage, but I didn't. What do you say to a man like that? I didn't want to destroy his image of what made a man full of the Holy Ghost was he had dancing, feet? Well, you see, there are some people who equate unction with animation. Animation may

45:54 simply be an expression of your native personality. It may be acquired theatrical ability. Animation has nothing necessarily to do with unction. Eloquence has nothing necessarily to do with unction. There are men who are eloquent in the propagation of error. Eloquence is a matter,

46:14 again, of natural endowment, acquisition, and discipline. A number of factors. It may have nothing to do with volume, fluency. Without understanding hardly a word of German, you've seen some of the tapes of Hitler who could go on fluent almost as though possessed of a divine spirit for hours in declaiming before thousands of people in the most burning kind of eloquence that I find moving, not understanding a word. Tremendous fluency.

What Divine Unction IS

46:48 Facility of utterance. But it may be reflected in all of those things. Well, what is it? Well, may I be bold enough to offer a suggestion as I close? Unction will include such things

47:07 in the preacher as the felt power of the truth upon his own soul as he attempts to convey that truth to others. The felt power of the truth upon his own soul. It is the Holy Spirit who alone enables the human heart both to understand and to feel the power of truth. And when the anointing of the Spirit of God is upon a man who preaches, he preaches whether with a quiet, sedate intensity or with an abandoned, animated,

47:48 voluminous flood of words. It's evident that the man is feeling the power of the very spirit upon his own soul that he conveys to others. With respect to himself, he is conscious of powers operative in his redeemed humanity that go beyond his natural faculties, no matter how highly cultivated they have been. He's conscious at times of a facility of utterance that he knows does not come just from what he got in his mother's womb and what he's acquired.

48:26 He's conscious. of a sharpness of thought a penetration of insight furthermore he will be conscious in himself not only the felt power of truth the consciousness of powers above and beyond his own natural faculties but he'll be conscious of an empathy of an interaction with his hearers beyond and above his natural level of empathetic involvement there will be a yearning an effusion of love, concern, desire for their well-being these are some of the indications of the unction of God upon the man of God

49:08 that will register in his consciousness and perhaps supremely in the consciousness of his hearers they will sense if they have any discernment and that will not be universal in any given audience at any given time but if they are the true people of God they will sense that an authority that is the true people of God that is the true people of God a grace, a power is resting upon the man's words that go beyond the mere faculties and capacities of the man standing before them there is a heavenly weightiness a heavenly sweetness a heavenly authority a heavenly penetratingness

Owen's Description of Utterance and Unction

49:52 that the listener knows that a power is operative beyond that of the mere moment of the mortal standing before him Owen talked around it as I'm trying to talk around it on page 572 of volume 4 and with this I close our lecture today 5, no not 572 512 couldn't read my own 1 from a 7 this is what Owen says the gift of utterance belongs unto this part of the ministerial duty in the dispensation of the doctrine of the gospel this is particularly reckoned by the apostle

50:36 among the gifts of the spirit 1 Corinthians 1, 5 2 Corinthians 8, 7 then he goes on to say how Paul then prays that utterance will be given to him and he says this utterance does not consist in a natural volubility of speech which taken alone by itself is so far from being a gift of the spirit or a thing to be earnestly prayed for as that it is usually a snare to those who have it and that it is usually and a trouble to them that hear them in other words if people run off at the mouth and have the gift of gab and take it into the pulpit he said it's a curse nor doth it consist in a rhetorical ability to set off discourses with a flourish of words be they never so plausible or enticing

51:20 much less in a bold corrupting of the ordinance of preaching by a foolish affectation of words in supposed elegancies of speech quaint expressions and the like effects of wit in other words a forced eloquence that he says is nothing but fancy and vanity then he tries to open up such words as paresia the word we translate utterance is logos that is speech but that not speech in general but a certain kind of speech and he says elsewhere it is called paresia that is a freedom and liberty in the declaration of the truth conceived this a man

52:03 hath when he is not from any internal defect or from any outward consideration straightened or compressed in the declaration of those things which he ought to speak and then he quotes the apostle oh ye corinthians our mouth is open to you our heart is enlarged a free enlarged spirit attended with an ability of speech suited to the matter in hand with its occasions belong to this gift you see how he's aiming at the same thing enabling the heart to feel the weight and the appropriate disposition to the truth being conveyed secondly he says so doth boldness and holy confidence

52:46 and then thirdly so doth gravity or seriousness in expression becoming the sacred majesty of christ and his truths in the delivery of them fourthly he speaks of authority i commend this section to you but brethren perhaps we have to go back to the words of the old black preacher when he was asked by someone what desonction you talked aboutτί the preacher saying, well i don't know what to do is but i sure enough knows what it ain't

The Experiential Reality of Unction

53:28 not mystical fancy but experimental divinity and as we were talking in the break the words of the old black preacher he was asked by someone, what desonction you talk about à quotes, what praises you say well i don't know what it is but i sure enough knows what it ain't and maybe thats the best we can say about it sounds mystical well, may said reverally it is in the realm of true biblical experimental divinity not mystical fancy but experimental divinity and as we were talking in the break time. Once you've known and tasted of it, you're spoiled forever. Through the years, I've had men come back from their preaching assignments and talk to them, and it's been a thrilling thing when at times they've tried to describe the first time they really preached with a measure of Holy Ghost unction. And I've listened, kept a smile off my face because I didn't want them to misinterpret it, but as they've been described it inwardly, I've said, Bless God, Lord, they're spoiled forever.

54:05 They've tasted it. They know it's a reality. It's not some wild, weird, fanatical thing that the teachers talk about. And once you've tasted it, you're spoiled. You can

54:18 never be satisfied to be a Bible talker. You can never be satisfied to be a Bible talker. Now God will teach you that your ability to measure the level of unction upon you is very, very inaccurate. But I believe it is God's ordinary purpose that we should enjoy the consciousness of preaching with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven so that as an ordinary rule we can say, my speech and my preaching were not with enticing words of men's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. So when I assert, brethren,

Conclusion: The Necessity of Gifts of Utterance

54:56 that of the gifts essential to the pastoral office, not only must there be the mind furnished in the ways described last week, but I assert as I did at the beginning of this lecture, that there must be this matter of those elements of the facility of utterance that are indicative that God Himself has given us these gifts of utterance. I believe the case is clearly established by the Word of God, validated by the testimony of the proven guides in God's truth, and I pray God that none of us, none of us, shall run into the world. To the pastoral office

55:40 without the knowledge that God has given us these gifts and facilities of utterance essential to the function of our office. Well, let's pray.