Report on Trip to New Zealand

Biblical Precedent and Purpose for the Report

0:05 who frequent this place of worship are very much aware that we hold as a church some very deep and very resolute convictions with regard to the centrality of preaching in the public worship of the people of God, and rarely does anything disrupt the pattern of public worship which grows out of that conviction. In fact, not as a matter of pride, but simply as a matter of statement of reality, I know of no other evangelical church in this whole area

0:46 that holds to the simplicity of New Testament worship as we seek to hold to it in our life together week by week. The congregational praise of God, congregational prayers, the prophet's of the word, and then the informal interaction with one another in seeking to enter into each other's joys and burdens. However, there are times when we make exceptions to the normal pattern, and we do so out of principle, and we do so because, first of all, we believe we have biblical precedent for doing so.

1:29 Also, Mr. Stribling read in your hearing a portion from the book of Acts in which it is recorded that two servants of God made reports to the churches of that which God was pleased to do through their ministries, and a similar portion is found in the book of the Acts, chapter 14, verses 25 through 27. And when they had spoken the word of God in Perga and went down to Atilia, from thence they sailed to Antioch, from whence they had been committed to the grace of God for the work which they had fulfilled.

2:09 And when they were come and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all things that God had done with them. And so here was a gathering of the church, a formal gathering. Somehow the announcement had been made by the elders that this was a duly concentrated gathering. It was a duly constituted church gathering, and the focus of that gathering was one of rehearsing the works of God.

2:39 And then secondly, we occasionally depart from our normal pattern of the centrality of preaching, not only because we believe we have biblical precedent, but because we believe it is consistent with the biblical end. In 1 Corinthians 14 and verse 12, we are told, Let all things be done unto edification. And it is the edification of God's people, which we are convinced is served by a meeting of this nature. And then thirdly, we do this because we believe it is consistent with a biblical reality as its goal.

3:17 In the New Testament, it is evident that without any of the means of modern communication which we now have, there was a tremendous sense of mutual dependence and awareness of God's will. In the New Testament, it is evident that without any of the means of modern communication which we now have, there was a tremendous sense of mutual dependence and awareness of God's will. Paul could write to a church which he had never visited, and yet he could give almost a whole chapter to naming specific individuals and bring greetings to them. And the climate of the New Testament is the climate of mutual awareness among the churches.

3:50 And even though the church and society at large and the world population in its massive growth, explosive growth, Since the apostolic days makes this kind of a thing much more difficult and, in many senses, impossible to maintain to the same degree, surely anything we can do that will press us a little closer to that goal is indeed well-pleasing to God.

4:18 So as I give this report tonight, I do so with a good conscience before God in the place of the normal exposition of the word, because I am convinced, and I share this conviction with my fellow elders, that there is biblical precedent for what we are doing, a biblical end is served, and it will help us to attain a biblical reality. As I've tried to organize my report, I thought I would...

Background to the New Zealand Trip

4:48 I would begin, first of all, with giving you a little bit of the background relative to my consent to go and to spend two weeks' time, that's including travel time, ministering in the land of New Zealand. As I have intimated on other occasions, it has come to the point where I must actually keep separate files for the invitations that come literally from all over the world with the sort of Macedonian plea. That we read of in the book of Acts, come over and help us. And this plea comes from responsible Christian leaders.

5:27 Right now, in several of those files are numerous letters from South Africa, Australia, India, Pakistan, other times letters from South America, coming again not from an individual or two who has been helped by a tape and would say, well, you know, we'd love to have some of this preaching. In the flesh, will you come? Rather, these letters come from responsible Christian leaders, pastors, leaders of denominations, heads of ministerial groups whose plea is, brother, please come.

6:03 We have desperate need that someone who is known and someone who is respected should come and give us some leadership, would give us the articulation of these biblical truths, would help us in the outworking. And since, under God, we have been privileged to labor in this place for a number of years and have been privileged to see the truths we hold dear, fleshed out in the life and ministry of the church, the plea comes, come and instruct us, come and answer our questions, come and share with us that which God has been pleased to do. Well, why did I consent to go to New Zealand? Well, I consented to go to Australia.

6:48 I continue to say no to South Africa and Australia and have, in a sense, run the risk of jeopardizing my friendship with some of these brethren who, when they hear that I've gone to New Zealand, and some already have and have wondered why, well, basically, it was as I prayerfully considered the content of the letters of appeal from New Zealand, I felt that the strategic nature of the situation and the total absence of anyone, anyone else that I knew of who could go at this particular time, who had the ears of key people, was such that I ought to go.

7:27 In a very real sense, God has raised up some very responsible leaders in these other lands who are known for their commitment to reform doctrine and life and practice, under whom God has raised up churches which are being used. Some of our esteemed brethren from the British Isles, have visited regularly South Africa. Our friend Geoffrey Thomas has gone there, our friend Errol Hulse, and these men have the ears and the confidence of the people. And yet it seemed in the situation in New Zealand that these men were relatively unknown,

8:06 but because of our tape ministry, I was known, there was at least a base of confidence and knowledge, and therefore, in the light of these factors, coupled with the first-hand vision, I heard a visit from Stephen Turner, pastor of the Hamilton South Baptist Church, which sponsored this particular conference, I felt before God I ought to go. As some of you know, I try to limit myself to one of these international ministries per year. Well, so much then for that background. Now, a little sketch of the country of New Zealand itself.

Geographical Sketch of New Zealand

8:44 I was amazed of how ignorant many of you were, I was amazed of how ignorant many of you were, I was amazed of how ignorant many of you were, I was amazed of how ignorant many of you were, I was amazed of how ignorant many of you were, I was amazed of how ignorant many of you were, of the geography pertaining to New Zealand. Some of you came to me and said, I thought New Zealand was in such and such a place. I thought it was in such and such a place. Now, if you want to insult a New Zealander, you just talk in such a way as to insinuate that you think New Zealand's just a part of Australia.

9:06 Well, it isn't. That island that sits at the south of Australia is Tasmania, but New Zealand itself, and I've taken my National Geographic map, and I hope you can see it enough, to at least give you some little idea. New Zealand, made up of two major islands, lies both east and south of the mainland of Australia. And you have the two major islands, the Northern Island with Auckland and Hamilton, two cities in which I was privileged to minister, and the Southern Island, Christchurch, right in the middle, and the other preacher who shared the conference up in Hamilton with me,

9:48 comes from right down at the bottom of the tip of the lower island, Invercargill. So that will give you some idea. And the distance between here and there is approximately 1,500 miles, about the distance of halfway across our own country. So you can see that New Zealand sits literally out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, pretty much insulated by that vast ocean.

10:18 Now, the climate is just about the opposite of what ours is at this time. They're just entering their fall. The leaves are changing, and people who have gardens are seeing the last of their lettuce and other things, although they do not have the full range of climate that we have. Parts, the northern part especially, would be considered semi-tropical, in that they may get an occasional frost, but rarely would they see any snow, whereas down in the south there are sections that actually look like, the Swiss Alps.

10:50 It's one of the most beautiful countries I've ever seen. In fact, the thing that strikes you the moment you land in New Zealand is that on a clear day, you look up and see clear blue skies straight above you, and you look straight to the horizon, and the sky is just as clear at the horizon as it is straight above you. No smog, and I noticed the difference even running, as I was able to do to get my exercise, my sinuses never once burned sucking in New Zealand air, but the moment I got back here and ran my couple of miles yesterday, I ran with burning sinuses all along the way.

Ministry Activities in Auckland

11:31 Well, so much then for that little bit of background as to why I consented to go, and of course this was with the consultation of the elders as well, a little bit of the geographical sketch. Now then, in the third place, let me try very briefly to outline the activities of the two-week period. It was felt that concentration upon the major areas of Christian influence would be the part of wisdom. You remember in the book of Acts, the Apostle Paul, though it was not beneath him to minister in small places, tried to seize the population centers for the gospel,

12:14 knowing that centers of commerce, centers of great, population, concentration would mean that as God was pleased to bless the word, why the word would then spread to other places. And so it was this concern that led us to decide upon a ministry in Auckland, which is the main city in the north, Hamilton, which is just an hour and a half drive south and a little bit east, and had wonderful facilities in terms of the Hamilton Teachers College, and then down, of course, in Christchurch in the center of the southern island. Now the problem was this. Apart from Stephen Turner,

12:59 the man who visited us here in our own assembly a year and a half ago, whose own congregation is moving gradually to a clear, biblical and reformed position, both as to its confessional statement and its life and practice, to our knowledge, apart from another independent, newly formed Baptist church that is committed to the London Confession of Faith, the church in Hamilton was the only church that was consciously committed to the doctrines that we hold dear. Well, what were we to do then? It wasn't as though a carpet was laid out from these other churches saying, we welcome this kind of ministry.

13:43 Well, we do have a very key contact through the tape ministry in Auckland. There is a man by the name of Richard Coons. He is a theological student whose father is pastor of the most influential Baptist church in Auckland, the Northcote Baptist Church. And so because of that contact, we were able to secure this ministry for the first weekend there in Auckland.

14:12 And in turn, other contacts were made and other doors were opened, even though it was not with the enthusiasm that we might find where the things we are known to stand for are appreciated. At least there was this gracious invitation. So leaving here on Thursday night, crossing the international date line, I arrived on Saturday morning about six or seven o'clock in the morning. And after trying to get sorted out inside of one day, I began preaching then two Lord's Days ago, Sunday morning at the Northcote Baptist Church in Auckland.

14:52 And it was my concern in those opening days, since there was no specific conference title or theme, that I should stick with general gospel preaching. For here there were many people who perhaps had heard some strange things about what was going down in Hamilton and this strange conference that was going to be talking about such things as election and for whom did Christ die and the relationship between the doctrine of God and evangelism. And no doubt their minds were filled with all kinds of questions, wondering what kind of strange teaching this strange sounding character from America might be bringing.

15:34 And so seeking to catch them with guile and to be wise as a serpent, I felt it would be safe to stick with basic simple gospel preaching. And so at the Northcote Church in the morning, I preached from Luke's Gospel, Chapter 5, a message you heard several months ago. I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. At the Murray's Bay Baptist Church on the other side of Auckland in the evening, I preached on the narrow gate and the narrow way which lead to life.

16:06 And then on Monday night back at the Northcote Church, I preached on 2 Corinthians 5, 17, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. And then on Tuesday, I had the privilege of addressing the annual or the monthly Ministers for Turner. Now there's a unique situation because of the size of New Zealand, 3,000 population, two and a quarter of the population, two and a quarter million, I said thousand, I meant million, two and a quarter million people in the North Island and only three quarters of a million people in the South Island. And apart from one or two independent Baptist churches, there is only one Baptist association.

16:48 Therefore, the lines of communication are rather strong. And there is this monthly fraternal, and I was privileged to address some 25 to 30 Ministers who in theological conviction would range all the way from liberal, neo-orthodox to broad evangelical to one or two men who would be at least nominally reformed. And God was pleased on that Tuesday afternoon to give me great liberty in addressing these, my fellow Ministers, and I believe much good will come from that ministry. And then Tuesday evening, I was privileged to preach

17:31 at the University Chapel in an open meeting. And again, the people didn't know what to expect. They just announced that there would be an open preaching service and the room, they had rented, the capacity was somewhere between 150 or 200, and it was filled. And the people sat and eagerly received the Word of God as I was privileged to preach from Acts 20, 21, the heart of the Apostolic Gospel.

17:58 And so I felt that in that opening opportunity of ministry there in Auckland and the five opportunities to preach Monday through Wednesday, I'm sorry, Monday through Tuesday evening, that several things were accomplished. We established the credibility of what we had come to do. We had not come to introduce something that was novel, something that was bizarre, something that was far afield, but that we were coming simply to reiterate that old Apostolic Gospel of repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And I might say in each of those situations, though coming as a stranger,

18:42 I was very conscious of much help in preaching. I was not at all restrained, having had the experience of ministering many times to my dear friends in the United Kingdom and the temperament of the New Zealanders being in many ways like those in the United Kingdom, more reserved, more conservative. I was not thrown by this as I had been in the past. And as people were free to express themselves in their reserved way, I was able to read in those expressions deep appreciation for the Word of God.

The Hamilton Conference: Chosen Unto Obedience

19:20 Well, from Auckland then, we traveled down on Wednesday to Hamilton to the Teachers College, which was used as the meeting place for the conference. The title of the conference was Conference 78, Chosen Unto Obedience, which I thought was a very appropriate name for the conference. And those who had planned the conference, again, used, I believe, much wisdom. It was their purpose to articulate the so-called five points of Calvinism and some of their implications for evangelism, but they did not do so in terminology that would have immediately created suspicion.

20:03 So the opening subject with which I had to deal with was entitled The Two Theological Positions and Their Relevance for Today. And the next message was on the doctrine of God in relationship to evangelism. And then on total depravity, the subject was, can man be said to have anything to do with his salvation? And then with respect to the matter of election, it was couched in the question, how does one come to be elect?

20:37 For whom did Christ die? Having found him, can we lose him? This was the way the various subjects were couched. And it was my joy to share these ministries with a dear Presbyterian minister from the South Island, all the way down from Invercargill, a man who is a Welshman by birth, but who has ministered in New Zealand for the past 18 years, and a very able preacher, very much in the style of Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones,

21:10 probably because of two things, sharing his Welsh temperament, and having been brought up under the doctor's ministry. As a little boy, he sat under Dr. Lloyd-Jones' ministry, and it was under the doctor's ministry that this man's father was converted, who in turn became a preacher. And one of the great encouragements, and I will just inject it here, because it was something that gave me great hope, he said he can remember, as a boy sitting there listening to his father preach, and when his father would announce the text, he would sit there and say, now let me see, knowing my father as I know him, how will he break down the text?

21:47 How will he analyze it? How will he open it up? How will he apply it? And he used to do that week by week, and he got so he could really predict how his father would handle a text.

21:57 But this night he was preaching on the doctrine of irresistible grace. The wind blows where it wills. Thou canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit.

22:13 And he said one night he sat and began as usual to think, all right, how will my father analyze the text? How will he open it up? How will he lay it out? But he said before the night was out, I was no longer analyzing my father's text.

22:29 I was having dealings with the living God. And the word of God came home with power to my heart. I'm quoting now from this dear man of God, Winfred Davies. And he said, I found that I too was born of the Spirit of God.

22:45 Well, this conference being the first of its nature, as far as we can trace out in the whole history of New Zealand, there has never been a conference sponsored to articulate historic reform theology. There are all kinds of conferences. The Charismatics have them by the dozens. And there have been Keswick conventions and Bible teaching conventions.

23:12 And here this church stuck its neck out. The Hamilton South Baptist Church, with a membership of about 200, committed themselves for the entire financial responsibility of flying me over, of renting the facilities of this teacher's college. The total financial outlay was somewhere around $3,000. And here they had the audacity to be praying that God would bring at least 400 people to that conference.

23:42 Well, it's not as though they could have looked back and said, well, we had our first conference and had 100. The second one we had 150. The third one we had 250. Now let's believe God for 400.

23:53 They had never had a conference of this kind before. And it was their prayer that God would bring enough people that it would cause people to sit up and take notice that these things are alive and kicking in our generation, that these things are not being done in a corner. Well, God answered that prayer. And in the evening session, I believe it was the first evening session, there were some three to 350 people present.

24:21 The conference began on the Thursday. And by the Saturday night and Sunday ministries, there were indeed at least 400 people present attending upon the Word of God with tremendous seriousness. My friend whom I mentioned from Invercargill, Winfred Davies, had two of the evening sessions. And each evening he preached for at least an hour and 15 minutes with no restlessness amongst the people, tremendous attentiveness.

24:50 The one evening I preached at the conference, I was chided that I quit after an hour and was told that I should have gone on and completed the second point that I had hoped to make. I had two major points. In the sermon, when I got through the first, I saw my hour had gone and I did not want to presume on the good graces of people whom I knew very little. And the only negative reaction I had was, you should not have stopped.

25:15 We're hungry. We've come to be fed and our souls are thirsty for the bread of life. And I found that to be true right through to the conclusion of the conference when on Sunday evening we moved into the church that sponsored the conference. Closing out officially at the Teacher's College Sunday afternoon.

25:36 And it was my great joy to preach in Stephen Turner's pulpit on Sunday evening to a church that was packed to overflowing. They had to put some people out in the church kitchen and put a microphone or a PA system. And I had that terrible experience of knowing I was preaching to people into whose faces I could not look. But the little church was packed to the full and God came with such a sense of His presence as I preached on the text that I preached on this morning.

26:06 That's why that text was still burning in my own heart as a result of ministering on it last Lord's Day evening. And when the service was over, people just sat. It was as though no one wanted to move. And then it was a joy to stand at the door as people began to move out and to see some who had been visibly moved by the preaching of the word.

Ministry Activities in Christchurch

26:27 Tears in their eyes and the evidences that the Spirit of God had been pleased to rivet the word to the hearts of those who heard. Well, after that intense ministry of some seven times of preaching Thursday through Sunday, I would love to have had the luxury of sleeping in a little bit. But the next morning at 8 o'clock, I met with some 25 to 30 ministers and ministerial students for an hour and 15 minutes and answered questions ranging from the whole matter of the minister's personal study habits to the establishment of an eldership in the church and how does an eldership function. So many of these things that have to do with the life of the church.

27:11 And it's at this point that again, I want to say, as I've said so many times, how thankful to God I am for your obedience to the gospel as a people, because in those situations, my mouth would be shut if I could not say in answer to their questions, this is what God has done. We cannot but speak what we have seen and what we have heard. Well, then we had to catch the plane down to Christ Church Monday around noontime. And there we were met with a group of people whom I had never seen.

27:49 But they said immediately, it's so good to see the face behind the voice. And these are people who have been helped by our Tate ministry. They fall roughly into two groups. A group of Presbyterians who have formed a new denomination called the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

28:08 It has no organic links with the Orthodox Presbyterian Church here in our country. But because of the liberalism that has inundated the standard Presbyterian Church there in New Zealand, there are some who have been constrained to establish a new and pure church. I use the word pure in the relative sense, of course. I was committed to the original Westminster standards.

28:34 And it was a delight to meet these people at the airport who gave me a warm welcome and assured me of their great delight in the knowledge that they, too, would be privileged to listen to the Word of God. Well, that, of course, was Monday morning, Monday evening. I was able to preach on the authority and sufficiency of the Scriptures and started with that fundamental issue that the Word of God must regulate all of our thinking concerning truth and life within the church. Now, this was a bit difficult because the church in which I was preaching is just a broad evangelical church, terribly fractured some time ago,

29:17 I guess about a year ago, with the charismatic movement that split the church from a church of about, I guess, four or five hundred down to a church of about two hundred. And here they have this brand new building that was built and then the church split came. The pastor is no question that he is a sincere, thoroughly committed evangelical, but he is not known at all for his understanding of or commitment to the things that are dear to us. So the very fact that that most strategic Baptist church there in Christchurch, called the Opowa Baptist Church, was even open to us was a kind providence.

29:58 And I would say there were about two hundred people who attended all of the meetings, though the conference was brief, Monday night, and then I preached twice, Tuesday morning, Tuesday night, preached again Wednesday morning, question time Wednesday afternoon, and preached again Wednesday night. So in that brief time, again, seven opportunities to minister the Word of God. And though the subjects announced were parallel to the ones up in the conference in Hamilton, I did not feel that the people had the background in these things to receive them, so on two occasions I changed the subject matter and concluded by preaching from Luke chapter 5,

30:42 Christ coming to call sinners, and have every reason to believe that God blessed the Word on that occasion and that much fruit will come to the praise of God. Well, that brings us then up to last Wednesday night in the conclusion of the conference. The next morning we made our way out to the airport and got on the plane around noontime, and then I was in transit. That is, on or off airplanes or sitting on runways or half asleep in airports for about 36 hours.

Travel Home and Rodarmel Family Update

31:17 So if you wonder why I looked a bit punchy this morning, that's why. Thursday is the worst day to get out of New Zealand and back to New York City. And if I ever make the trip again, I'll plan the itinerary to return either on a Wednesday or on a Saturday where the connections are much better. The only good thing that came of it is that we had a layover of about two hours in Honolulu, so I can say that I've been to Hawaii and I have seen Honolulu.

31:47 And then the second blessing was that I had a layover of some four or five hours in Los Angeles and wondering what to do with that time. Just before I left, I dictated a letter to our dear friends, the Rodarmels, and what a joy it was to come off the plane and there to see, waiting for me, John and Joanne Rodarmel, and they had made reservations at a lovely restaurant that is right there in the center of the Los Angeles airport. And we had precious fellowship for the three or four hours prior to my leaving at about 10.30 in the evening, getting back to Newark at 6.30 a.m.

32:26 this past Friday morning. And the Rodarmels wish me to convey their warmest love and greetings and to tell you how much they miss Trinity. And they say you can never appreciate it until you've been away from it. And their hearts long in that sense to be with us, but they are flourishing spiritually.

32:45 And God has led John into a business with three other men who, though in varying degrees, are committed to the things that are precious to John, they are thoroughgoing Christians. And every hour, every day, the first hour is spent in studying the Word of God. They're going through the Book of Romans using Steele and Thomas' study guide, committing the whole day and all of their business to God in prayer. Every morning, one hour.

Lessons Learned: Hunger for God's Word

33:15 And that's the way they begin their business. And they are finding great joy and blessing in their business and in their opportunities of witness. Well, having given you something of the background as to why I decided to go on this brief sketch of the activities, now to the heart of the matters that really concern us, what are some of the lessons and observations learned and made that apply to us? Well, the first is this, that our hearts should rejoice that God is yet giving to men a hunger for the pure Word of God.

33:54 We should rejoice that God is yet giving to men a hunger for the pure Word of God. As I looked at the announcements that were sent out for the conference, there was nothing to appeal to the flesh whatsoever. It was a simple little four or five folded sheet that said, Conference 78 had the names of the speakers, the subjects announced, a little explanation as to why these subjects were to be handled, and with nothing, no musical groups, no big names, nothing that would appeal to the flesh.

34:35 Here, there, here in Hamilton, up in Auckland, down in Christchurch, were these hundreds of people who came to hear the Word of God. And Stephen Turner, just as a matter of his own curiosity, asked me, he said, how many different people do you think you addressed during your time here? I said, I don't have a clue. I could care less.

34:58 Well, he said, I've done a little figuring, and I would say that it's been at least 1,500 people. And here were people hungry for the Word of God, who sat as you sit with their Bibles upon their laps. And when the text was announced and when the text was expounded, when they saw it with their own eyes in the book, that settled it. Even though some came to me and said, Pastor Martin, my head is reeling.

35:25 I've heard things these days. I've never heard before. I'll be months sorting it all out. But I see it in the book.

35:33 I see it in the Word. And our hearts should rejoice that God has not wholly given men over to a spirit of error. For we read in 2 Thessalonians those frightening words. Because men do not receive the love of the truth, God shall give them over to a spirit in which they will actually believe a lie.

Lessons Learned: Confusion of the Charismatic Movement

35:59 And so we ought to rejoice together that God is yet giving that hunger for the pure Word of God. But secondly, we ought to grieve together at the tremendous confusion created by the Charismatic Movement. As you know, we do not try to major in negatives. And from time to time, references are made to the Charismatic Movement.

36:28 From this pulpit, and I try to make them guardedly, because it's a mixed movement. And it has a broad spectrum, all the way from what we would call a fanatical kind of Pentecostalism that is as foreign to Christianity as Hinduism, all the way to that which we must call, at its heart, genuine Bible Christianity that is infected with some serious errors. So we must beware of generalizing. And if we have any Charismatics present here tonight, let me assure you, we are not so insensitive as to group everyone into one class.

37:07 However, having said that, it is a fact that in the land of New Zealand, the confusion created by the Charismatic Movement is absolutely grievous. Let me give you a case in point. I have spent about an hour expounding the Word of God from the Gospel according to Luke chapter 5. Where Jesus said, I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

37:34 And the whole thrust of that message, some of you heard the essence of that message, was an appeal that people would see themselves as sinners, recognize Christ as the only Savior of sinners, and cast themselves upon His mercy. Well, I had no sooner done preaching, went to the back when two men came to me, and I could tell almost from the way they came, what was in store. Sure enough, they said, well, we weren't here for the whole message, but we heard the end of your sermon, and what we want to know is, why didn't you finish your sermon like Peter did on the day of Pentecost? I said, what do you mean?

38:12 Why didn't you tell the people to do what he did? Repent, be baptized, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. I said, young men, you have not come to be taught by me. You have come to be my teacher.

38:24 And frankly, I am not about to become your pupil. I said, your ignorance of the Word of God is pathetic. And I said, I'm going to give you a homework assignment. And your homework assignment is to take a piece of paper and draw some columns.

38:38 And I want you to go through the Gospels and the book of the Acts and find every incident where Jesus dealt with an individual and where the apostles gave directives to individuals or groups. And I want you to see that in no case was the same direction ever given twice. So don't come and chide me that I have not given the directions of Acts 2. You speak out of biblical and theological ignorance of such a nature that I have no basis of further discussion.

39:05 And there are people who have sat and received the word. I have an obligation to go to them and to fellowship with them. Good night. And I left them.

39:17 But it's that kind of arrogance that is all through New Zealand. People have picked up a few verses from the book of Acts, and now they feel they have the answer to everything. But you see, the charismatic movement is always always an answer to a vacuum. Where there are people who are well fed upon the word of God and where there is experimental preaching, and by experimental we mean that there is not just a filling of the head with notions, but where there is belief of and the practice of a felt religion that the truth affects the whole man

39:59 and that right understanding results in right feelings and right action. And the truth produces joy in the Holy Ghost. As we read in Romans 14, 17, the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. You see, the charismatic movement can take no root in that type of a situation.

40:22 I'm asked again and again around the world, do you have any problem with the charismatics in your congregation? I say no. I say we have no fewer than a dozen to 15 ex-tongue speakers. We have people who have tried the charismatic movement and have found that it's left them empty and bereft of reality.

40:42 But I say we don't have any outbreak of tongues. We don't have to be putting down the charismatic movement. And I'm convinced the reason why is that the vacuum to which the charismatic movement seems to be the answer is not there. And so the state of New Zealand in great measure can be understood by the fact that the charismatic movement has inundated the entire country.

41:08 And it seems to be the only alternative to the rather bland, wishy-washy, nondescript evangelicalism that has prevailed for so long. So as we rejoice on the one hand that God has created hunger for the pure word of God, we should be grieved and should be broken in heart at the confusion created by the charismatic movement. And some of you know how that confusion was manifested right in this area just a weekend ago. I don't know how many people they got into Giant Stadium.

41:44 Did anyone read the reports? How many did they get into Giant Stadium? Anyone read the reports? How many?

41:50 50,000. And the announcement, and I have the record of the announcements, there was to be President Carter's sister who is everything from like a Christian scientist to everything under the sun, but by no means could we call her, according to the word of God, a biblical Christian. She was to be one of the Protestant speakers, then the head of the 700 Club, the other, and then two Catholic fathers were the other speakers. And in the middle was the verse that they all may be one.

42:19 And the charismatic movement is now the most powerful ecumenical force in the church today, causing people utterly to blur all doctrinal distinctions. And if we can shiver and shake and shout and babble and go on in gibberish together, then this is the indication that the Holy Ghost is at work. I say this confusion is dishonoring to God. It is splitting churches.

Lessons Learned: Need for Mature Leadership

42:49 It is turning back the cause of Christ in New Zealand. And we ought to be aware of it. And our hearts ought to break and bleed. Then thirdly, and this perhaps is the most critical matter, and I've not yet sorted it out.

43:06 And I'll be weeks and months sorting it out. And you must remember, I'm so close to the thing that my judgments are not my most mature judgments. We should take to heart the critical need for mature and respected leadership in New Zealand. Stephen Turner is not yet 30 years of age.

43:27 The man who invited me to come or whose church invited me to come. Stephen Turner is relatively new. To the doctrines of grace. He has spent so much time in a navigator type mentality of one-to-one ministry with men.

43:45 And this is his own admission that he has not given himself to the kind of study necessary to become an astute and perceptive theologian. And if a man is to be a leader, he must be that whatever else he must be. If he is to give responsible leadership to the churches, he must be an astute and perceptive theologian. And yet his church is the only church in all of New Zealand in the Baptist movement that is moving rapidly and openly into a clearly reformed and Calvinistic position.

44:23 Yet, they have still not resolved the matter of elders. There's still tremendous work to be done in the matter of discipline. And in the new Orthodox Presbyterian church. The young man who is looked upon as being their most keen and articulate spokesman is a lecturer in the university.

44:43 He's only a part-time pastor and that's the leadership. The college they have is not desirable for training since it's a mixed bag as we would say with men of liberal as well as broad evangelical persuasion. And one of the things that was so painful was to recognize that there was no one to whom these men can look for responsible mature leadership. There's a young pastor beginning to wrestle with things.

45:14 For instance, there were some pastors who were present both at the meetings in Hamilton and in that pastor's fraternal. Now, as they have their questions, where do they look? Well, you say they look to the Bible. Yes, but God always uses men.

45:29 And it's always men who under God produce strong men. And one of the things I would ask you to pray for is that God would raise up mature and strong leadership. Well, you say, what about that man way down in the south? Well, he's a man of about 50 years of age and he is knowledgeable.

45:53 But because he is in the Presbyterian church that many feel has become so liberal that they must leave it for conscience sake, he would not have the confidence of the younger men. They would feel he was in a position of compromise. Now, notice, I did not say he is in a position of compromise. I'm telling you why they feel they cannot look to him for leadership.

46:15 And then there is that other factor. There is that peculiar chemistry that you can't create. You simply recognize it when it's there. There are some men to whom young men gravitate.

46:26 There are other men to whom they do not gravitate. And you cannot create that. It is a matter that is given. Well, there just seems to be no one on the scene at this time to give that kind of leadership.

Challenge to Trinity Baptist Church

46:38 Well, then, growing out of those observations, what is the challenge to us as a church? Well, of course, challenge number one is to pray, to plead with God that leadership of a very responsible nature may emerge out of New Zealand. I have admonished my good friend Stephen Turner. I said, call all your young disciples together.

47:04 He's a single man, and so he's been able to spend a lot of time with this one-to-one ministry. I said, call them all together and tell them, fellas, the honeymoon's over. From now on, you're on your own. I'm going to be shut up with my books.

47:19 I may see you once in a while, but I must become a careful, knowledgeable, astute theologian if I'm to give direction, if I'm to be looked upon for leadership, I must be a man of greater depth in my knowledge of the Word of God. So pray for our good friend Stephen. I am not asking you to pray for anything concerning which I have not already lovingly and firmly admonished him as a brother in Christ. And then, of course, it means that I must pray concerning my own responsibility.

47:57 Could it be that instead of flitting off to Australia next year and South Africa the following year, that God would have me to make a year of prayer for him? I am not asking you to pray for anything concerning which I have not already admonished him as a brother in Christ. I am asking you to pray concerning my own responsibility. I am asking you to pray for my good brother and sister in Christ.

48:15 I am asking you to pray for my little brother, who is not yet well, but is still sick and who is going to be very ill, but who has to be personally suffocated, and that God would grant him speedy recovery. At that, I am asking you to have your prayer or prayer of faith as a service to your soul and to keep your heart free from such a personal problem. And then, of course, it is also an issue of humility. There's no haste in that.

48:34 There's no haste in it. ministry at any cost. There is this newly formed, independent, Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Auckland, and we need to pray for the brethren there, that God will bless them and use them, and that their work will become strong in the days ahead. Pray for the work in Hamilton under the leadership of our brother Stephen Turner. Pray for the man in whose home I stayed and in

49:03 whose church I ministered, a Mr. Browning down in Christ Church, in the Opowa or the Opowa Baptist Church, that God will use the things that he heard to challenge him, that he may rethink many of the positions that he has held. Well then, finally, what are the matters for which we can give corporate thanks to God? Some of you who were in the prayer meeting before I left on the Thursday, that Wednesday night, one of the brothers stood and said that he had been constrained to share with us the

Corporate Thanksgiving and Exhortation

49:41 Psalm that was read in your hearing, and in particular, the text, Psalm 20 and verse 5. The Lord fulfill all thy petitions. And in a wonderful way, God did that in this trip. As some of you know, in the past, I found it difficult, not difficult, well nigh to impossible, yet anything that resembled a decent night's sleep. And when I was preaching two and three times a day

50:14 and counseling, and then going on four hours of restless sleep, it was most difficult. Well, before I left this time, I spoke to my family physician, and I said, Doc, if you've got some kind of a sleeping pill that will help me to just get over the hill and get off, but won't leave me with a hangover in the morning. He said, well, I think I've got something. And I believe God used that sleeping pill, plus your prayers. Here's the mean.

50:38 so that night after night I was able to take a warm glass of, what do they call it over there? Well, we would say sort of like a chocolate, but it's not chocolate, but it's like a chocolate drink. I'd take that with hot milk and my sleeping pill a half an hour before I'd go to bed and I'd be in bed 15 minutes and just be as sound asleep as a little baby in its mother's arms. And so the Lord did answer that prayer so that I was able consistently usually to get a good seven hours sleep and then God put me in a lovely place, both places that I stayed in a lovely home up in Auckland

51:19 where it was quiet and I could rest and then down in Hamilton I was placed in a home out in the country where there were sheep out in the front yard and where there was a wonderful country road, 3.36 miles that I was able to go. I was able to go out and run every afternoon and drink in that good air and get needed exercise and be able to sleep well at night and so let us thank God together that He did answer our petitions in granting rest. And then as you can tell from my voice that God has blessed the surgery on my nose now that I no longer have to breathe through my mouth all of the time.

51:59 I did not have one moment's problem with my throat the entire time I was there. In fact, it was such a joy to feel my vocal strength come back again that in one home where Stephen Turner and I stayed, he accompanied me down to Christchurch. That was another wonderful answer to prayer so we could have some time together. He plays the piano and they had one of these living rooms you could shut it off from the rest of the house and he would go in and play and I would sing to the top of my lungs.

52:29 After preaching three times the day before I could sing and what a delight it was. It was such a joy to feel that I had all the faculties back again and so God has been good and I'm sure you can tell even from now where as before for months now by Sunday evening my voice would begin to go, it would lose its strength. Why right now it feels strong enough, the rest of me doesn't, but it feels strong enough to go on and preach another sermon if necessary. So we can thank God that He fulfilled our petitions in granting sleep, in granting strength to the voice and then thirdly I asked you to pray that God would restrain the areas

53:11 of my own peculiar temptations that I might not have severe battles with indwelling sin and God was very gracious in that area so that my mind was much upon Christ and the word of God was precious in personal devotions and for that we must give thanks to God as well. And then fourthly. We prayed that upon the preaching of the word would come the help of the Spirit and there was not one time of the nineteen or twenty times that I preached in the nine days of actual ministry that I was not conscious of help from heaven in my preaching.

53:52 That sense of liberty and joy, that sense of being able to attack the conscience with both earnestness and tenderness and for this we ought to praise God. And then another prayer. Another matter of much thanks to God was the way the Lord helped me to get to know Stephen Turner. You cannot influence a man unless you feel you know him and though I had corresponded with the man I simply did not feel I knew him.

54:21 I just didn't know who he was. Some people in ten minutes you feel you know them. Well I just felt there was a veil there and one of my prayers was Lord if it please you make it possible for Stephen to come from Hamilton when the conference is over down to Christchurch that we may be able to room together in a motel or a home so I can get to know him. Well I expressed one of this desire to one of the deacons.

54:45 The next thing I know one of the deacons handed him a paid airline ticket and said you're to accompany Pastor Martin. That's non-negotiable. You're to go down and spend those days with him. Well it was during that time that I feel God helped us to get to know one another as we prayed and laughed and gestured together.

55:05 And I'll even tell you a little secret I even gave him a little black eye as we were jesting around in the room one night and we're just sort of doing like this and I said watch out. I says you're fooling around with an old man that has to keep up with his 17 year old son and he kind of pooped on it. I said not today. I said I'll sneak in a left so quick you won't see it and we were doing it just with open hands and I sneaked one in and caught him right here and he went home with a little bit of a black eye.

55:39 So I'm sure if he visits you in the future he'll tell you how I mistreated him in that area. And then a sixth area of thanks to God is God's mercy in preserving my own family in my absence and I must say to the praise of God how gracious God was. As many of you know it was my wife had only come out of the hospital on the Saturday prior to my having to leave on the Thursday and as a father and a husband I was very apprehensive about this because she still was in some degree of discomfort and I was just concerned to leave her at that time.

56:22 But the day before I left she came into my study and she said to me dear everything's all right. The Lord has met me in my own time alone this morning and assured me he's going to be my husband. He's going to give me the grace needed to make the decisions that I usually lean upon you to make and I want you to go without one ounce of concern. I'm sorry.

56:43 We're in the Lord's hands. God will take care of us and I thank God and though it embarrasses her I feel I must pay public tribute to my wife's submission to Christ and her simple confidence in her Lord to care for her in my absence and then it was a great delight to return to the elders meeting last night and to hear the report of God's blessing upon the ministries here and the blessing of God. I thank God upon your life together as a church and my final word is one of exhortation again.

57:22 Please don't ever rob me of the ability to go on these kinds of ministries and to minister with a good conscience. If I knew that I was leaving behind a congregation shot through with dissension, a congregation that was disobedient to the word of God, then this ministry would be done. I might be able to go and do evangelistic ministry, but to go and try to give guidance and direction to people that are wrestling with the profound issues of church life and worship. What does it mean to be a biblical church?

57:58 What's it mean to have biblical preaching? What's it mean to have biblical worship in all of these issues? I can only say again that I thank God for your obedience to the gospel and I plead with you as a congregation. Don't ever rob me.

58:12 Amen. Please don't ever rob me of the privilege of being able to give the kind of answers and to give the kind of direction that I am privileged to give in these strategic opportunities of ministry. For some of you who may be visiting amongst us who do not know us, you may be sitting there and saying, well, does he have some kind of messianic complex that he's the world's Savior? No, not at all.

58:40 No such complex whatsoever. But I do know this much. I have one life and I have a stewardship of every gift and every opportunity that God has given me. And I must before God seek to discharge that stewardship in the light of that day when I stand before my Lord.

59:01 And I covet the continued prayers of you, God's people, that God may give help in making the critical decisions that must be made. At this point, I'm so close to the thing. That my temptation would be to call together the elders and say, give me a year's leave of absence to move over to New Zealand with my family to try to help the situation of the church there. But that's just my initial reaction.

59:27 The same way I came back from Pakistan, I wanted a year's leave of absence to go to Pakistan. Well, if you have a heart for people and the cause of Christ, you can't help but have that. But there's a second thing, dear people, and it's this, where people have not had the light you've had. They've appreciated a lot more.

59:45 And there's nothing that makes a preacher like an appreciative audience. And you preach to people who've been starved for so long that they even hang upon your pauses. And at times it's difficult to come back and see people falling to sleep, falling asleep in your most impassioned portions of your preaching. To pour out your soul with tears as I did this morning and see people yawning, it's pretty hard when you've seen people hanging upon your pauses.

60:16 In your introduction, before you've even warmed to your subject, and I warn you as a congregation that the price you will pay if you ever become indifferent to the ministries God gives you is the withdrawal of the Word of God. May God never send a famine of the Word of God amongst us, but may He give us an ever-growing hunger for that Word. And may He give us an ever-growing sense of stewardship of whatever gifts He's deposited amongst us. And He's deposited such a variety and diversity of those gifts, and may we cherish them, invest them for His glory.

60:59 And may I say to those of you that yet sit in your sins, it's going to be an awful thing for you to stand before God if you perish from underneath this pulpit. When one goes to a land such as New Zealand and sees how little gospel is being preached, three to four percent of the entire population attending churches of every kind, and the very few people here are any kind whatsoever. Material affluence, clean, beautiful land, they can teach us much in external things. But this famine of the Word of God, let us pray that what I was privileged to see, and

61:41 that little bit of which I was privileged to be a part, will be but that beginning of the leaven that is worked into the meal. And may we yet see the whole lump leavened. And mightily, for all we have. Amen.

61:54 he triumphs for the gospel of Christ in the land of New Zealand. And may we pray that we as a congregation will now take to heart the new burden we have. We've prayed for other lands, taken on other burdens. We now have friends and associates in the gospel in Pakistan, Sweden, East London.

62:16 Now the Lord is saying to Trinity Church, now stretch your hearts. Here's a new area of responsibility, the land of New Zealand. Now must become part of your stewardship as a church. And of course the great principle is, he that will lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.

62:36 But he that would save his life, he that says, no, we've got enough concerns, we've got to take care of our own, draw in. No, no, the moment we do that, death is upon us. It's as we lose our lives for his sake and the gospel's, that in losing it, we shall find. Well, I trust this report will fill your heart with encouragement, with praise to God, and that together we shall now press on in seeking to be faithful to the stewardship of whatever this will demand of us as the people of God in the years and in the months that lie before us.

Concluding Prayer for New Zealand and Trinity Church

63:17 Let us unite our hearts in prayer before God and commit these concerns to him. Our Father, we remember the word. The word read in our hearing on the Wednesday before my departure for this ministry. The Lord fulfill all thy petitions.

63:54 And how we thank you that we are able as a congregation this night to bow in your presence and to praise you that you have done that. Thank you for journeying mercies over the 20, over 20,000 miles of travel. Thank you for watching. Watch care over dangers seen and unseen.

64:19 Thank you, Father, for preserving the flock of God. Thank you for giving help to those in places of leadership and ministry. Thank you, Father, for caring for all of the needs of my own family in my absence. Thank you, Father, for the wonderful way that you opened the hearts of the people to me as a stranger.

64:44 Thank you for the hunger you gave. Thank you for the word of God. Thank you for those hundreds of people that you drew to the conference in Hamilton. Thank you for those dear, hungry souls whose only means of being fed have been the tapes that have been the instrument of their own salvation and edification.

65:08 We thank you for Stephen Turner. We thank you, Father, for others in places of leadership and responsibility. And, oh, God, this day we pray for that little country, its two main islands, placed there in the midst of the Pacific, and in the light of what we heard several Lord's Days ago from Acts 17, it is you who have set the bounds of men's habitation. And we believe that you have formed that nation.

65:40 You have placed it in its geographical position. And we pray that from those two major, major islands there may yet arise into your very presence a great volume of praise from men and women who come to know the true and the living God. Churches where there is pure worship, where there is powerful preaching, where there is careful and loving discipline. And, oh, God, we pray for ourselves now as a congregation.

66:16 As you have led us, you have laid upon us again a new area of concern and responsibility. We confess that our hearts left to themselves are narrow hearts. They are selfish hearts. They are hearts content to be fed and be made fat and to be indifferent to the starvation and leanness of others.

66:41 But, oh, Lord, lay upon us holy constraint. May we not be contented. May we not be content until there are raised up in the land of New Zealand men who are mighty in the Scriptures, men who will preach with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. We pray that you will put to rout all of the confusion, of the preoccupation with tongues and visions and subjectivism and the excesses of the charismatic movement.

67:13 Oh, God, put down, we pray, the spirit of error and grant that men may come to the conviction of the sufficiency and the finality of the word of God written and that once again that word may be heralded through those two major islands and that multitudes may bow before King Jesus. Oh, our Father, we pray that it would please you in the days ahead as a new vine, as a volume of correspondence will come and as new counsel will be sought and fresh demands will be made upon us,

67:57 as letters will be read at our prayer meeting. Oh, God, have mercy upon any among us who resent new burdens, who are irritated by widened horizons and grant us as a congregation to have large Catholic spirits that are, that are concerned for the triumphs of the gospel to the ends of the earth in this, our generation. We thank you for this day. We thank you for the glorious gospel that we are able to preach, that there is in the suffering servant of Jehovah

68:38 forgiveness for the vilest of sinners. Oh, God, we ask that from this very congregation you will save sinners and then lay your hand upon them and make them mighty preachers of the grace of God. Grant that we who are parents and leaders and followers and whatever our place may be, that we may pray to you, the Lord of the harvest, to send forth laborers into your harvest field. Hear the prayers we offer and be pleased to glorify the name of Jesus in our midst, we pray.

69:18 Amen.