The following sermon was delivered
on Wednesday morning, October 23rd, 2002, at Trinity Baptist
Church in Montville, New Jersey, during the annual Pastors Conference.
The preacher is Pastor Albert N. Martin, and this is the second
sermon in a series entitled, The Immediate Agency and Operation
of the Holy Spirit upon the Preacher. We come in this our to our second
consideration of the subject, the immediate agency and operations
of the Holy Spirit upon the preacher in the act of preaching. And
in the first session I introduced the subject by seeking to exegete
the key words in the title and then highlighting several foundational
presuppositions with respect to the person of the Holy Spirit. I then proceeded to open up two
major lines of thought. Number one, the indispensable
necessity for the immediate agency and operation of the Holy Spirit
upon the preacher in the act of preaching and then some of
the specific manifestations of the Spirit's agency and operations
upon the preacher in the act of preaching. And I was able
to open up three of them. I said I had a fourth. I will
simply give you the heading and leave you to work out the thought
itself, and it was this. And the Holy Spirit gives us,
in the act of preaching, a heightened sense of the absolute authority,
sufficiency, and trustworthiness of the Scriptures, which convey
a compelling authority to our preaching. And I think the whole
doctrine that is so clearly articulated in our confession with respect
to the way we know the Scriptures to be the Word of God, it is
not by the supporting evidences, but by the ministry of the Spirit
attesting to that reality in our hearts. What is true of the
average believer with respect to his confidence that this is
the Word of God comes in a heightened way to the preacher in the act
of preaching. Surely you have felt as I feel
at times, 40 feet tall with a sword, 60 feet in width, and you feel
you could take on anyone and anything with that sword of the
Spirit. Now, it's not a qualitatively different conviction about the
Scriptures, but it is a heightened persuasion, which in turn gives
a note of authority to our preaching. Well, so much for that little
P.S. from the previous hour. Now having covered those first
two major headings of the indispensable necessity for this ministry of
the Spirit, some of the specific manifestations of this Spirit's
ministry, we come in this hour to what I'm calling some basic
reasons for a restrained or a diminished measure of the Spirit's immediate
agency and operations upon the preacher in the act of preaching. Some basic reasons for a restrained
or a diminished measure of this Spirit's activity. And in seeking
to introduce the subject, let me do two things. Let me first
of all define what I mean and why I'm using the two words restrained
and diminished, and then give a very necessary qualifying statement. I'm using these two words in
this way. When something is restrained,
it is held back. It never moves in the direction
fully that it desires to go. And I'm trying by the use of
that word to express the reality that I believe there are men
who have never known that measure of the Spirit's immediate agency
and operation in conjunction with their preaching because
the Spirit has been restrained. They have never come to their
full inheritance in Christ as preachers. On the other hand,
there are some in whom that agency and operation is diminished. That is, they have known measures
of it that they now no longer know. Like Samson, they've gone
forth to war and wish not that the Spirit has left them. So that's the sense in which
I'm using the two words restrained and diminished, and the necessary
qualification is this. Some of these things of the restraining
and the diminishing of the Spirit's immediate agency and operations
upon a preacher in the act of preaching can only be resolved
in the matter of the mysterious, inscrutable, but absolute sovereignty
of God. We know from church history and
Christian biography that there are men who at given periods
in their life and ministry were aware of, and others were aware
of, unusual measures of this immediate assistance of the Spirit
but it was very localized time-wise, and as far as we know from their
testimony and subsequent history, there was no moral or doctrinal
deviation that would have grieved and quenched the Spirit. There
were sovereign, unexplained operations of the Holy Spirit in which God
was manifesting that He is God. and that must constantly be kept
before us and whenever we come to a subject such as seeking
to ascertain reasons for a restrained or a diminished measure of the
Spirit's immediate agency and operations. However, with that
qualification around us conditioning how we think, I am bold to assert
that within that qualifying principle there are yet general and discernible
patterns which you and I must acknowledge and with which we
must honestly reckon when we ask the question, why have I
not attained a measure of the Spirit's immediate agency and
operation in my preaching, or why do I presently know less
of that agency than I have known in the past? And so we're going
to take up together these basic reasons for this restrained or
diminished measure of the Spirit's agency and operation upon us
in our preaching. And the first is this. The immediate
agency and operation of the Spirit may be restrained or diminished
because the necessity for the Spirit's immediate agency and
operations are not regarded as indispensable by the preacher
himself. This ministry of the Spirit in
conjunction with the act of preaching can be restrained or diminished
when the preacher himself does not regard that dimension of
the Spirit's ministry as absolutely essential. Now we know from our
Bibles that the Spirit can come sovereignly even upon a dumb
ass. and so operate upon Balaam's
ass, its lips, its tongue, its vocal apparatus that it can speak
the very word of the living God. I'm fully aware of that. Saul
can be meandering among the prophets and the Spirit can descend upon
him and Saul prophesies. I'm fully aware of that. However,
ordinarily, The Holy Spirit, who is a divine person, generally
does not come in gracious and copious measures of His agency
and power where His presence is not treasured, earnestly sought,
believingly expected, and jealously guarded. He does not come in power where
his presence is not treasured, earnestly sought, believingly
expected, and greatly treasured. For some, this attitude is the
fruit of a false and unbiblical view of preaching that regards
the ministry of the Spirit in the study as all that is really
necessary. Anything beyond that is quasi-charismatic
or bordering on kooky fanaticism or, hear me carefully, limited
to certain types of personalities. I reject that with all my being. Others fail to regard the immediate
agency and operation of the Spirit as essential because of a deep
core of carnal self-confidence which puts them under a dimension
of God's curse rather than blessing. One of the passages that has
been a lifetime companion with me in conjunction with preaching
is Jeremiah 17, 5-9. Cursed be the man that trusts
in man. and makes flesh his arm, and
whose heart departs from the Lord. And God goes on to describe
him in graphic terms like a parched out, burned out, blasted, unfruitful
field. And that's what some men's ministry
is, because there is not that internal disposition of utter
weanedness from confidence in oneself, or there is, as I've
already indicated, a deep persuasion, though they would never articulate
it, that the real ministry of the Spirit is in the study. And
basically all He does when you're in the pulpit is make sure that
you keep your wits about you and you're able to get out from
your notes what God has given you in the study. And there is
no belief in, expectation for, any specific operation of the
Spirit in the act of preaching in the preacher. Oh yes, there
may be prayer. Lord, make the fruit of my study
and my work in the secret place fruitful in my people. But there
is no expectation of anything fundamentally different to happen
in the preacher's own heart, in the preacher's own mind, in
the preacher's own tongue, all of the things that we addressed
in the previous hour. For others, this evidence of
not really believing in the absolute necessity of that immediate agency
of the Spirit is manifested in a lack of specific, focused prayer
for that specific ministry of the Holy Spirit. And James 4
is true of their ministries. You have not because You ask
not. And when our Lord is stirring
up His own to importunity in prayer in Luke chapter 11, He
focuses that importunity upon this very thing. If you who are
evil, Luke 11, 13, know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Spirit to those
who assume He will work because they're trafficking in truth?
He's the Spirit of truth, isn't He? So shall my word be that
goes out of my mouth? I can assume no. He gives the
Spirit to those who ask Him. And ask Him in what way? In the
way described in that context. The man coming at midnight who
will not take no for an answer. As I said yesterday, I don't
introduce much biographical stuff into my preaching. But I do want
to introduce an element of biography. Several years ago when my own
spirit was convicted that I was not specifically, explicitly
praying every Lord's Day that I might be filled with the Holy
Spirit and that I might know in heightened measures those
dimensions of the Spirit's ministry we addressed in the previous
hour. Best I know my heart, I wasn't going into the pulpit confident
in myself, confident in my notes, confident in my preparation.
I was going prayerful, but I got convicted that I was not taking
Luke 11, 13 at face value. And I said, Lord, this has got
to change. And I began to do something that has become a precious
ritual to me. I live about 18, sometimes 20
minutes if I catch the lights from the church building. And
I began every Lord's Day morning, once I drive by the restaurant
that is on the adjacent far end of our property, and I pray for
the restaurateur, a man that I have a good relationship with,
and I've made that Sunday morning trip by the restaurant a trigger
point to pray for my friend Gregorio, that God will save him. I had
to get some of my Italian friends to go down and speak to him in
the proper language, but I pray for him. And then having prayed
for him, I have this little ritual of two songs that focus upon
praying specifically to be filled with the Spirit. And one of them
has these words, with thy Spirit fill me, with thy Spirit fill
me, Lord possess me now I pray, and with thy Spirit fill me.
And so I've made up a lot of my own verses. What will happen
if God fills me? I'll be filled with love. So
then I have my verse, with compassion fill me. If the Spirit fills
me, I'll have boldness. With great boldness fill me.
I'll have unction. And I've made up a whole bunch
of my own verses. And I sing out this litany to
God Sunday morning by Sunday morning. And people who have
sat under my ministry for a number of years, it's been very interesting,
have indicated in their own way that they have sensed a heightened
measure of the enablement of the Spirit of God in the last
several years. I believe whatever else is wrapped up in the mystery
of God's sovereignty, that's part of the answer. I came to the place where I took
the words of Jesus at face value. I ask you, my brother, do you
have a deep-seated conviction that there is such a ministry
of the Spirit to be experienced in preaching? And do you treasure
that ministry? Do you earnestly seek it? Do you believingly expect it
and jealously guard it? Or does God leave you to the
mercy of your own pathetic resources as a curse upon your subtle form
of creature confidence? I leave you to work out that
question before God. But now secondly, there is a
second reason for this restraining, for this diminishing of the Spirit's
operations and agency upon the preacher in the act of preaching,
and it is this. This ministry of the Spirit can
be restrained or diminished because the Holy Spirit is being breathed
by the preacher. Because the Holy Spirit, divine
person, is being grieved by the preacher. And here, of course,
I'm referring to Ephesians 4 and verse 30. And do not grieve the
Holy Spirit, whereby, in which, or in whom you were sealed unto
the day of redemption. And when the theologians and
the exegetes have gone all around the mulberry bush talking about
anthropopathisms and all of the rest, what does it mean, don't
grieve the spirit? It means don't grieve him. He
is a person who in his personhood reacts to certain situations
with a disposition that has a kinship with what we experience as grief. And with all due limitations
and the rest, my brothers, if God meant to convey something
that has no relationship to our felt experience of grief, why
did He use the word? He didn't put it there to be
bled of all its significance and have a God who is up and
beyond and outside any feeling akin to my feeling of grief. He says, do not grieve the Holy
Spirit, for a grieved spirit becomes a restrained or a withdrawn
spirit, not withdrawn as to his indwelling, for those in whom
he dwells are sealed by his very indwelling unto the day of redemption,
but grieved and withdraws his free operations the same way
when your wife is grieved by your boorishness. There's a withdrawing
of her openness, her transparency, her free flow of affection. She
doesn't pull her ring off and throw it out the window. Soon
they'll get a lawyer and divorce you. Till death do us part. But a grieved wife is a withdrawn
wife. Don't grieve the Spirit. It's
the height of cheekiness. to be grieving the spirit in
an area of life and ethical controversy with God, and then to pray for
his special assistance and presence and power in preaching. That's
a form of pagan manipulation of the divinity. Stop it. How is he grieved? Well, in the
context of Ephesians 4, He is grieved by unresolved ethical
aberrations, whether Godward or manward. Verse 25 to 32 is
dealing with unresolved ethical aberrations, Godward or manward.
That's the context. But I suggest, brethren, he is
grieved by more than those things identified in the immediate context. In broader terms, since he is
the spirit of truth, And He has come to bear witness to truth
and give unction and power to the servant of truth who is speaking
His truth. Surely He is grieved when we
are lazy and careless in the handling of His truth. when we
come before our people without having done the work necessary
to say with as much confidence as a fallible, limited human
being can say, this is what God said and this is what God means
when He said it. Sloppy exegesis, careless sermon
construction that presents the truth sloppily. thought out,
and then ask God, the Holy Spirit of truth, to give special assistance
to own with blessing the fruit of your sloppy work? He is grieved when what we come
into the pulpit to give in His name is not the fruit of careful,
arduous, painstaking labors. to present His truth. Furthermore,
He is the Spirit. I like to think of it in this
way. What is the Holy Spirit's most delightful work? He does
many things. And in the mystery of the oneness
of triune will generically and triune will redemptively, there
is this beautiful coalescence of all the persons of the Godhead
in the scheme of redemptive grace, yes, but May I ask a question
without being blasphemous? If you were asked the Holy Spirit,
Holy Spirit, what is your most delightful work? He would answer,
to shine upon the face of God the Son, to make Jesus glorious,
to make Jesus precious, to make the work of the Son cherished
and loved and appreciated in the hearts of man. And he hovers,
as it were, over our pulpits, wringing his hands with expectation,
saying, am I going to be able to do my most delightful work
today? Is the preacher going to give
me some stuff with which to do my work? I've got the lights
all ready to turn them on and flood them on. Jesus, will they
put him out so I can put the floodlights on him? Where is He grieved? Where is
Jesus? Where is the work of Christ?
Where is the person of Christ? Are the duties articulated going
to be traced back to Christ for sufficiency and motivation unto
that duty? Are the privileges going to be
traced back to Christ, the great fountainhead of all redemptive
privilege? The Holy Spirit is grieved when
our sermons aren't full of Christ. Don't grieve Him. Don't expect
the Holy Spirit to come with heightened measures of His agency
and operations when we grieve Him, not only by laziness in
our preparation and what we present as truth, but when we move from
the nerve centers of all truth. We grieve And so there are times
when there is a restrained or a diminished measure of the Spirit's
immediate agency and operation because the Spirit is grieved.
But then thirdly, the immediate agency and operation of the Spirit
may be restrained or diminished because the Spirit is being quenched
by the preacher himself. The Spirit is being quenched
by the preacher himself. He is praying that there may
be this immediate agency and operation of the Spirit, but
he is quenching the very Spirit for whom he has prayed. And here,
of course, my text is 1 Thessalonians 5, where the apostle writes in verse 19,
Do not quench the Spirit. And look at the context. Despise
not prophesying. Prove all things. Hold fast that
which is good. While the imperative is given
to all of the people of God, there at Thessalonica, in whatever
situation in which they could be guilty of quenching the Spirit,
they are not to do it. It's clear that the context draws
us to a consideration of gifts of utterance. For immediately
upon the imperative, do not quench the spirit, we are told, don't
treat prophesying lightly. Don't despise that utterance
of the spirit that comes in the assembly in the form of prophecy. It could be, in some commentators,
one that I recently consulted, suggests that where there were
these aberrant strands of teaching with regard to the second coming,
and Paul says in his second letter, if something comes telling you
the day of the Lord has already come or is right at hand, and
it comes by way of letter or spirit or supposed message from
us, maybe somebody was standing in the assembly and with a tremulous
voice and with apparently some aphlagist of heaven was faking
a prophecy. And so the people got the pleasure
of fooing. If we're going to get that kind of nonsense, forget
prophecy, man. It's dangerous stuff. So he said,
no, don't treat legitimate prophecies lightly. And then he goes on
to say, prove all things, put everything to the test. In the
context, I believe he's pointing to every public utterance that
claims to be a word from God. Put it to the test. Hold fast
that which is good. So in using this text with special
reference to us as preachers, I do not believe I am forcing
it out of its universe of discourse. I believe the context warrants
that use. Now, having established that
I trust in your judgment, whatever the full significance may be,
surely it means something like this. There are some operations
of the Holy Spirit in conjunction with gifts of public utterance
that are analogous to fire. All right? If you do not put out the fire
of the Spirit, there is something the Spirit does that is analogous
to fire. That in so, then, please tell
me what the text means. Do not quench or put out, throw
water upon, dampen the fire of the Spirit. So there are operations
of the Holy Spirit, particularly in conjunction with matters of
utterance of God's truth analogous to fire, and that these operations
must not be snuffed out, but be given full latitude to burn
in the pursuit of truth. Amen. Okay, now. Thank you. He said, Amen. You say, Amen, too? Yeah, good. Amen. All right. Now, seriously,
brethren, that leads us to the question, then, how is the Spirit
quenched in connection with a man's preaching? If we are under a
divine mandate, do not put out the fire of the Spirit Don't
quench the Spirit as clear a mandate as Ephesians 4.30. Do not grieve
the Holy Spirit. Let me make some suggestions
as to how the Spirit is quenched in connection with the act of
prophesying, small p, preaching. Number one, by refusing to make
specific efforts to cultivate and improve our gift of preaching. by refusing to make specific
efforts to cultivate and improve our gift of preaching. You have
the negative injunction in 1 Timothy 4.16, neglect not, Timothy, the
gift that is in you, but the positive injunction, 2 Timothy
1.6, that brings us back into the imagery of fire. Stir into
flame The gift of God that is in you. What a strange conjunction
of ideas. It's the gift of God that is
in you. There has been the impartation
by the Spirit of a specific gift of utterance to be stirred into
flame. It's God's gift, but you have
a stewardship. to see it burn as brightly and
as fiercely in the interest of truth as is possible by prayer
and pains and dependence upon the Spirit who gave it. And I
believe the Spirit is quenched in us. When we reach a plateau,
we've got our style, we've got our method, we've got our way,
and because there's no rumbling to get rid of us, we coast. For immediately upon the imperative,
do not quench the spirit, we are told, don't treat prophesying
lightly. Don't despise that utterance
of the spirit that comes in the assembly in the form of prophecy. It could be, and some commentators,
one that I recently consulted, suggests, that where there were these aberrant
strands of teaching with regard to the second coming, and Paul
says in his second letter, if something comes telling you the
day of the Lord has already come, or is right at hand, and it comes
by way of letter or spirit, or supposed message from us, maybe
somebody was standing in the assembly and with a tremulous
voice, and with apparently some afflatus of heaven, was faking
a prophecy. And so the people got the pleasure
of fooing. If we're going to get that kind of nonsense, forget
prophecy, man. It's dangerous stuff. So he said,
no, don't treat legitimate prophecies lightly. And then he goes on
to say, prove all things, put everything to the test. In the
context, I believe he's pointing to every public utterance that
claims to be a word from God. Put it to the test. Hold fast
that which is good. So in using this text with special
reference to us as preachers, I do not believe I am forcing
it out of its universe of discourse. I believe the context warrants
that use. Now, having established that
I trust in your judgment, whatever the full significance may be,
surely it means something like this. There are some operations
of the Holy Spirit in conjunction with bits of public utterance
that are analogous to fire. All right? If you cannot put
out the fire of the Spirit, there is something the Spirit does
that is analogous to fire. If that is so, then please tell
me what the text means. Do not quench or put out, throw
water upon, dampen the fire of the Spirit. So there are operations
of the Holy Spirit, particularly in conjunction with matters of
utterance of God's truth analogous to fire, and that these operations
must not be snuffed out, but be given full latitude to burn
in the pursuit of truth. Amen. Okay, now. Thank you. He said amen. You say amen too? Yeah, good. Amen. All right. Now, seriously
brethren, that leads us to the question then, how is the Spirit
quenched in connection with a man's preaching? If we are under a
divine mandate, do not put out the fire of the Spirit. Don't
quench the Spirit as clear a mandate as Ephesians 430. Do not grieve
the Holy Spirit. Let me make some suggestions
as to how the Spirit is quenched in connection with the act of
prophesying, small p, preaching. Number one, by refusing to make
specific efforts to cultivate and improve our gift of preaching. by refusing to make specific
efforts to cultivate and improve our gift of preaching. You have
the negative injunction in 1 Timothy 4.16. Neglect not, Timothy, the
gift that is in you, but the positive injunction, 2 Timothy
1.6, that brings us back into the imagery of fire. Stir into
flame The gift of God that is in you. What a strange conjunction
of ideas. It's the gift of God that is
in you. There has been the impartation
by the Spirit of a specific gift of utter instinct to stir it
into flame. It's God's gift, but you have
a stewardship. to see it burn as brightly and
as fiercely in the interest of truth as is possible by prayer
and pains and dependence upon the Spirit who gave it. And I
believe the Spirit is quenched in us. When we reach a plateau,
we've got our style, we've got our method, we've got our way,
and because there's no rumbling to get rid of us, we coast. We don't listen to ourselves
preach and critically analyze our sermons. We don't submit
them to better and more objective critics than ourselves and say,
brother, be ruthless with me. Be ruthless with me. What patterns
do you see that if changed could make this gift more effective? I want to stir it into flame. And when you don't, to some degree,
you're quenching the potential flame of the Spirit in conjunction
with that gift. You're violating the imperative,
don't quench the Spirit. You can quench the fire of the
Spirit in conjunction with your preaching by neglect of the gift
God has given. But then secondly, and here I
launch out, into uncharted waters. I've never gone publicly, but
this didn't come in the impulse two days ago in the middle of
the night. This is the first time I've ever given concentrated,
specific public utterance to what I'm going to say, but in
a sense it's been 40 years in coming. And it's this. The spirit can be quenched by
a carnal and slavish attachment to the labors of the study. And I'm going to show how every
word's been chosen carefully. The spirit can be quenched by
a carnal and slavish attachment to the labors of the study rather
than a self-controlled and rational yielding to the unplanned insights
and impulses of the spirit given to us in the act of preaching. Now let me run it by again. The spirit can be quenched by
a carnal and slavish attachment to the labors of the study rather
than a self-controlled and rational yielding to the unplanned insights
and impulses of the Spirit given to us in the act of preaching. Let me explain my meaning. I'm
assuming that under ordinary circumstances each of us comes
to the act of preaching with the careful prayerful preparation
of the study accompanying us. Right? Now, how it accompanies
us differs. And you see, with the way I've
stated it, I don't want to get into the moot question of a manuscript,
outline, skinny outline, fat outline, memorized. All I'm saying
is, I'm assuming that each one of us comes to his pulpit under
ordinary circumstances, bringing with him the fruit of the labors
of the study, whether in the form of a full manuscript, or
in detailed outlines, such as I have with me here, or a brief
skeleton, or a memorized text, or a memorized outline. We all
bring with us the fruit of the labors of the study, and we ought
to. In addition, I'm assuming we
have sought the aid of the Spirit in our labors in the study, and
that we desire to share the fruit of those Spirit-assisted labors
in our pulpits by a present assistance of the Holy Spirit. But, so far
so good, but I am also ready to assert that we ought to come
to our pulpits not only bringing with us the labors of the study,
committed to convey those to our people, but with the prayerful
expectation that in the gathering of the people of God, in the
context of the promised presence of Christ, that Christ himself
will be present in such a way that there will be unplanned
and unpredictable dimensions of his activity by the Spirit
that will necessitate something other than a carnal and slavish
attachment to the labors of the study. And if we don't come with
that disposition again and again and again, we will be quenching
the Holy Spirit. Now I want to read a quotation
from Pierre Marcel's excellent little book, The Relevance of
Preaching. I don't endorse everything in it. But I shall never forget
the first time I read these words. They acted like a bucket of cold
ice water on my face on a snowy day. And they stunned me and
they shocked me. And for weeks, I carried this
quotation folded over in the flyleaf of my Bible. And during
the offering, I would read it. And I would have dealings with
God concerning. Listen, listen to Pierre Marcel
at a section in his treatment of preaching where he's underscoring
this thing that I've been preaching about, teaching about, lecturing
about. Preachers and believers alike must pray that the Spirit,
who alone can turn the word of man into a word of God, may work
forcefully from the beginning of the worship to the end. Now,
he writes, But it is not enough to beseech the Spirit. He is
not a diffuse force which spreads out in all directions as the
heat of the sun, and which can be channeled and annexed. The
Spirit is a living and free person. It is necessary, therefore, when
invoking His presence, to allow Him His freedom of action. This leads us to make a few ticklish
remarks and to ask a few questions. How are the preacher and the
believers going to depend on the Holy Spirit and leave to
the spirit of the church his freedom in the very act of preaching? So he's dealing with the subject
I've been attempting to lay before you. Now he answers, the Holy
Spirit being the free spirit of the Father and the Son, to
what must the preacher's relationship with the Holy Spirit lead, since
it is the Spirit who takes the things of the living Christ and
communicates them to us. And then he goes to a number
of passages, several passages, which had peculiar relevance
to the apostles and peculiar relevance to the servants of
God in times of unexpected emergency, when delivered before councils,
etc., the Spirit will give you in that hour. He has an excellent
footnote on those who object to even using the principles
of that and applying it to preachers, and I think his case is compelling. Then he goes on to say, This
does not therefore mean an indirect dependence on the Spirit, a repetition
of what Christ has already said during preparation and before
the worship hour. Preparation and even redaction,
writing, rewriting, constitute only a preliminary part to preaching. It means rather that the preacher,
in the company of the people of God, is to yield himself a
malleable and living organ for what Christ, by the Spirit, wills
him to say to those who hear. If Christ is left free, there
will be times when he will constrain the preacher to add, delete,
and modify, in form or even in content, such and such portion
of what he intended to say. but which he cannot now say. If the preacher is and remains
dependent upon his manuscript or upon his memory, there is
not just one prisoner, there are two. The preacher and the
Spirit, and through the Spirit, Christ himself. The written or
memorized text of the sermon at this moment exercises its
dominance. Christ through the Spirit is
not free to sound out the scriptures in the study, to prepare, to
write, to reflect, to pray on the one hand and to preach on
the other. are distinct acts which employ
the distinct and complementary interventions of the Spirit.
One cannot replace the other." And then you know what he does?
He hides under Spurgeon's skirt, like I've been doing. And then
he has a most humorous quote from Spurgeon. I do not censure
my brother for his mode of preaching, but I confess that it seems very
odd to me when a brother prays that the Holy Ghost may help
him in preaching. Then I see him put his hand behind him and
draw out a manuscript out of his back pocket, so fashioned
that he can place it in the middle of his Bible and read from it
without being suspected of doing so. These precautions for ensuring
secrecy look as though the man was a little ashamed of his paper.
But I think he should be far more ashamed of his precautions.
Does he expect the Spirit of God to bless him while he's practicing
a trick? And how can he help him when
he reads out of a paper which anyone might read without the
Spirit's aid? What does the Holy Ghost to do
with this business? Truly, he may have had something to do
with the manuscript in the composing of it, but in the pulpit his
aid is superfluous. The truer thing would be to thank
the Holy Ghost for assistance rendered in preparing the manuscript,
and that what he has enabled us to get into our pockets may
now enter into the people's hearts. Still, if the Holy Ghost should
have anything to say to the people that's not in a paper, how can
He say it by us? That's the point. The paper is
the master. The Spirit is the prisoner. Brethren,
this is not fanaticism. That's why I use the terminology
that in the act of preaching, there will be those things that
we will express that are rational and self-controlled. But they
were not in the notes, and in the living interaction with the
people of God, in the presence of the living Christ. Point two
that we thought we'd get through in ten minutes. There is an expansion,
an ignition in the living current with our people. Applications
flood into the mind, not out of nowhere. It's the stuff over
which you've labored. But there is an intensification
of the birthing process, where only two specific pointed applications
to your people came in the study, in the act of preaching. Two
or three more come on your feet, and you know your people, and
you know the relevance. You're not just blethering fanatical
gush. But if you're so determined that
your neat sermon will get preached out, you're quenching the Spirit. Preach your ragged, unneat sermon,
and have the Holy Ghost in power, present, giving His Word to the
people. Why do we quench the Spirit in
this way? Well, let me give you three reasons
as I seek to wind this thing down, before I wind up. Number
one, this is a noble thing. There's an excessive fear of
saying something stupid. There's an excessive fear of
saying something stupid. We don't trust ourselves to get
away from what we've hammered out in the study. And many times,
that's a good caution. But if it's such a caution that
when there is that sense of the expanded heart in the expanded
mind, and we're seeing truth more clearly. Again, you see,
I'm not talking about stuff coming out of nowhere. This stuff is
all gestated in the study, the mind and the spirit of interacting
with our Greek text and with our helps to our Hebrew exegesis. We're not up here being ranting,
for now, Lord, Holy Ghost said, Lord, Holy Ghost... No, we're
not talking about that. But we are talking about an amplified,
increased dimension of insight, brethren, Does the Holy Ghost
give that to you just for you to smother it and swallow it?
Or is that the living Christ who's feeding his sheep? Don't
imprison the living Christ by an excessive fear of saying something
stupid. Oh, there will be times when
in those patches you will say something stupid. You can always
get up Sunday night and confess it. I've done it many a time.
Many a time. Many a time. But I believe there's an awful
lot that's helped God's people, sent them home fed, because I've
mortified the fear of saying something stupid. Secondly, it's
a lack of faith. It's a lack of faith. You really don't believe. that
God who is giving that additional insight, that more penetrating
analysis of the passage, that more relevant, pointed, diffusive
application of the passage, you really don't believe that Christ
is giving that for the good of the people. It's a lack of faith.
But I believe the major cause is right here. Now I'm going
to stick my neck out. It's unmortified pride of how
you look as a preacher. You've got this nice, neat sermon.
It had better be neat. What are you getting paid for?
Not to come up with sloppy sermons. And you had this passage you
thought was particularly neat. And I mean, the alliteration
and the combination of words came so nicely. Boy, did that
really go over well. And you know, if you expand where
the Holy Spirit has given you fresh light, you may not get
to your very nice passage in your sermon. And you may have
to do some juggling on your feet, many a time. I've had to recompose,
well how do I get from point two to the conclusion that is
soon point three, and the time is gone. It'd be insensitive
to carry on. What is the Holy Ghost to do
with this business? Truly he may have had something to do
with the manuscript and the composing of it, but in the pulpit his
aid is superfluous. The truer thing would be to thank
the Holy Ghost for assistance rendered in preparing the manuscript,
and that what he has enabled us to get into our pockets may
now enter into the people's hearts. Still, if the Holy Ghost should
have anything to say to the people that's not in a paper, how can
he say it by us? That's the point. The paper is
the master. The spirit is the prisoner. Brethren,
this is not fanaticism. That's why I use the terminology
that in the act of preaching there will be those things that
we will express that are rational and self-controlled. But they
were not in the notes. And in the living interaction
with the people of God, in the presence of the living Christ,
point two that we thought we'd get through in ten minutes, there
is an expansion, an ignition in the living current with our
people. Applications flood into the mind, not out of nowhere. It's the stuff over which you've
labored. But there is an intensification
of the birthing process, where only two specific pointed applications
to your people came in the study, in the act of preaching. Two
or three more come on your feet, and you know your people, and
you know the relevance. You're not just blethering fanatical
gush. But if you're so determined that
your neat sermon will get preached out, you're quenching the Spirit. Preach your ragged, unneat sermon,
and have the Holy Ghost in power, present, giving His Word to the
people. Why do we quench the Spirit in
this way? Well, let me give you three reasons
as I seek to wind this thing down, before I wind up. Number
one, this is a noble thing. There's an excessive fear of
saying something stupid. There's an excessive fear of
saying something stupid. We don't trust ourselves to get
away from what we've hammered out in the study. And many times,
that's a good caution. But if it's such a caution that
when there is that sense of the expanded heart and the expanded
mind, and we're seeing truth more clearly. Again, you see,
I'm not talking about stuff coming out of nowhere. This stuff is
all gestated in the study, the mind and the spirit of interacting
with our Greek text and with our helps to our Hebrew exegesis. We're not up here being ranting
for now, whoop, Holy Ghost said, whoop, Holy Ghost. No, we're
not talking about that. But we are talking about an amplified,
increased dimension of insight, brethren, Does the Holy Ghost
give that to you just for you to smother it and swallow it?
Or is that the living Christ who's feeding sheep? Don't imprison
the living Christ by an excessive fear of saying something stupid. Oh, there will be times when
in those patches you will say something stupid. You can always
get up Sunday night and confess it. I've done it many a time.
Many a time. Many a time. And I believe there's an awful
lot that's helped God's people, sent them home fed, because I've
mortified the fear of saying something stupid. Secondly, it's
a lack of faith. It's a lack of faith. You really don't believe. that
God who is giving that additional insight, that more penetrating
analysis of the passage, that more relevant, pointed, diffusive
application of the passage, you really don't believe that Christ
is giving that for the good of the people. It's a lack of faith.
But I believe the major cause is right here. Now I'm going
to stick my neck out. It's unmortified pride of how
you look as a preacher. You've got this nice, neat sermon.
It better be neat. What are you getting paid for?
Not to come up with sloppy sermons. And you had this passage you
thought was particularly neat. And I mean, the alliteration
and the combination of words came so nicely. Boy, did that
really go over well. And you know, if you expand where
the Holy Spirit is giving you fresh light, you may not get
to your very nice passage in your sermon. And you may have
to do some juggling on your feet many a time. I've had to recompose.
How do I get from point two to the conclusion that assumed point
three? And the time is gone. It'd be insensitive to carry
on. So you tell your people, say,
for the life of me, I don't know how in the world to wind this
thing down, but I don't have time for point three. It assumed
in my final application, so we're going to pray and go home. Be
honest. Be honest. Forget your stinking
reputation for being a neat homiletician. Forget it. Go to a place called
Calvary and ask God to nail it there. Be Christ's free man. I'd rather preach a sermon that
has the touch of the immediacy of the Spirit of God with its
lack of neatness than neat little niceties. And brethren, I think you know
me well enough to know I don't believe in sloppy preaching. pride, unlordified pride. You quench the Spirit. Well,
our time is gone. I trust you've been challenged
with respect to this whole matter of the immediate agency and operation
of the Holy Spirit upon the preacher in the act of preaching. That
where necessary, there will be a confession of the sins of ignoring
the reality of this dimension of the Spirit's work. For some
of you, I would not be surprised if there may be some of you,
if you allow the Word of God to take its proper root in your
heart in this area, you will have dealings with God that would
probably fit what other people describe as a baptism of the
Spirit. I don't believe their description is right. I have no sympathy for Dr. Lloyd-Jones'
doctrine of the Holy Spirit. I have no sympathy for the charismatic
view of the Spirit. All I'm saying is some of you
have so ignored Him that just beginning to acknowledge the
necessity and the desirability of His immediate aid and coming
to God in earnest prayer and expectancy, something's going
to happen to you in your preaching that you will be an altogether
different man. I believe that. For others of
you, you've been grieving Him. And theirs have been a diminishing.
Your discerning people know the do of God doesn't rest on you
now as it once did. And some who are kind and want
to think the best say, well, he's getting older. Probably poops out a little sooner
in the study. And they're giving very gracious
excuses. But God knows and you know. I
see nothing in my Bible. that says age must result in
the diminishing of spiritual life and power. One of my favorite
passages is Psalm 92. They shall bring forth fruit
unto old age. They shall be full of sap and
green. I say, Lord, make me a sappy
preacher. Make me a green preacher to show
that the Lord is righteous. He is my God and there's no unrighteousness
in Him. My brother, You know where you've
been grieving the Spirit. Things that once you would have
been shocked at to let your eyes see in your television, you now
watch with impunity. There's ethical, moral controversies
you have with God. And it's shown when you stand
up Sunday morning. In God's name, I beg you, deal
with the ethical aberrations. Go in repentance. Plead that
God will cleanse you afresh in the blood of His dear Son. Some
of you have been quenching the Spirit. You've not been doing
it willfully and wantonly. You've had a mixed-up view of
the study and the pulpit. And you thought that the pulpit
was nothing more or less than an extension of the study. And
I've challenged that assumption. And I hope I've challenged it
with the Bible. And this will drive you to your Bible and drive
you to your knees. and you'll be frightened to death
at the thought, while seeking to priest Christ, you imprison
Christ by simply locking yourself in
to no expectation but that which has been the fruit of your time
in the study. May God stir us up to pray more,
to expect more, and by the grace of God, in this age that says
preaching's passé, In this age that says one-way authoritative
communication is totally out of joint with the mindset of
Generation Xers, I'm still convinced that preachers that stand aglow
with the truth, liberated by the Holy Spirit, when what they
preach dances and sings and throbs with heavenly light, they're
going to be heard! They're going to be heard. May
God grant that we shall all be such men. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for
these hours we have spent together this morning, and we earnestly
pray that out of them will come reflection, examination of your
Word, examination of our own hearts, and that in many pulpits
in the coming days there will be evident fruit from our time
together. Thank you for one another. Thank
you for your goodness in bringing us together. Continue with us
the coming hours of the day. We ask in Jesus name.