The Manner of Delivering A Sermon

We now come to the end of this series of articles on preaching by Al Martin. I have found his thoughts on this subject to be challenging and Biblical. However, I feel his advice is something we should already know, and have carelessly and rebelliously lost along our way. God help us where we have failed to bring glory to your precious Name! Help us to teach and preach by your Holy Spirit! Now, to Al Martin’s final remarks:

The manner of our delivery [preaching] should be marked by reasonable orderliness. In preaching the truth of God to men, we must never forget that they are men whose minds are so constructed as to be able to receive thoughts in a logical structure. The mind simply cannot receive truth when it comes as one big formless blob. We must seek to send our people home with a few stakes driven into the mind, and certain aspects of the truth of God hung upon those stakes.

Consider with me the necessity of directness in the manner of our preaching. There is a most excellent section on preaching the gospel in Charles Bridges’ book The Christian Ministry. In this section, he comments on the matter of directness by saying ‘For this end, we must show them from first to last, that we are not merely saying good things in their presence but directing what we say to them personally as a matter which concerns them beyond expression.’ When one reads the sermons from the great preachers of the past, one is struck with their holy directness. One feels as though these sermons of the old masters are boxing him up into a corner where he must do something with the truth with which he is being confronted. Joseph Alleine in his Alarm to the Unconverted stands as a classic illustration of this principle. Again and again, he backs the sinner against the wall, as it were, with questions that cause the sinner to reflect upon his way, upon his own state before God. . . .

May God deliver us from simply saying good things in the presence of a gathered people, and enable us so to preach that men will know that we are saying weighty things to them personally.

What is wrong with preaching today? I am sure that many of the faults are exemplified in my own life and ministry as much as in others, but I would suggest that together we consider the problem of preaching today as a problem of the MAN — in the area of personal devotional experience, in the realm of practical piety, and in the purity of his motivation. What is wrong with preaching today? Some of the problem is in the MESSAGE — the substance of what is preached, and in the manner in which it is being communicated. May God grant that where any of these things legitimately apply to us we may suffer the word of exhortation, and by the grace of God apply ourselves to be more effective communicators of the truth of the Word of God to our own needy generation. (“What is Wrong with Preaching Today?”)

Read more by Al Martin here. . . .

The Counterfeit Christian

There is something wrong with preaching today because the counterfeit Christian is rarely challenged from the pulpit any more. Is there not something seriously wrong when we allow people to sit in our pews week after week without pointing to the matters of faith and holiness upon which they should examine the truth of their Christian walk? According to Al Martin:

Suppose I were to go to my local bank, to deposit two twenty-dollar bills. If the teller were to take them and say to me, ‘Just a minute, Mr. Martin, I think there might be a counterfeit here.’ If those bills are genuine, they stand to lose nothing by the close scrutiny which the bank teller gives them. In fact, they gain something. If he takes them to the back of the bank and places them under a magnifying glass, and examines them as to their genuineness, if they are genuine, I shall never be more confident of their genuineness than when they come back unscathed by close scrutiny. The only one that stands to lose anything is the counterfeit. This principle is true in searching applicatory preaching which sets forth the distinguishing marks of a true believer. The only one who stands to lose anything under a scriptural and balanced preaching of these things is the spurious believer. And he ought to be disturbed now while the day of salvation is still with us. If we err in making unscriptural distinctions, and unnecessarily trouble the godly, may the Lord open our eyes and bring us back from the error of our way! However, this is not the practical danger in our day. Rather, we are lulling people to sleep through our failure to set before them in a dose experimental way the marks of true faith as opposed to the faith of the demons. [See James 2:19].

Brethren, the Bible gives us many explicit statements which we may set before our people. Jesus said ‘My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.’ Let us not fear to tell our people that if they are not hearing and following Him they have no grounds to claim they are His sheep. Let us dare to tell them that though they may know all about the fact that our Lord has had His sheep upon His great heart from eternity in the covenant of redemption, though they may know all the facts of how He died for His sheep with a particular intent in His death, and how the Holy Spirit effectually calls them, the issue which we must press upon them is this: Are they hearing His voice? Are they following? We must not back off from pressing such issues. We must press the issues as set forth in the First Epistle of John, where the Apostle declares, ‘These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have eternal life.’ [I John 5:13]. What things did John set before them? Did he give them a string of texts upon which to place their fingers for assurance? No. Rather, he gave them a series of tests, by which they were to examine their lives. He said, ‘Hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments.’ Again, ‘Hereby we know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.’ The consciences of our hearers need to be wounded in order that they might ask the question, ‘Am I truly in the faith in the light of the objective standard of the Word of God?’ (“What is Wrong with Preaching Today?”)

The Purity of the Pastor’s Motivation

If there is a problem with preaching today, certainly part of the problem lies with the man who is preaching. Al Martin addresses now the purity of the pastor’s motivation:

[In Preaching] pure motivation will involve love of the truth. We are called upon to declare the whole counsel of God (See Acts 20:27). Paul declares that only as he did this was he pure from the blood of all men. He declared the whole spectrum of divine revelation. There is only one reason why we preach that men are lost, bound in their sins, and under the condemnation of God — it is that God declares it to be so, and out of love to His truth we proclaim it. Whether it is palatable or unpalatable truth, our love of the truth is such that we want the whole world to know all that God has revealed.

[Another] area touching this matter of purity of motivation is love to men. I am convinced, brethren, that this is what will drive us to applicatory preaching. We must have such a love for men that we cannot stand to see them slumber under our ministries. We must have such a love that it will drive us to a sense of responsibility to do all within our power to make the truth of God live to them. M’Cheyne said, ‘The man who loves you the most is the man who tells you the most truth about yourself.’ In II Corinthians 7, Paul asks a question, ‘Am I sorry that I made you sorry?’ In answer to his own rhetorical question he said, ‘I am glad I made you sorry, because your sorrow led to your salvation.’ In another place he said, ‘Am I loved the less because I tell you the truth?’ He went on to say, ‘I am sorry, but I am going to love you anyway and continue to tell you the truth even if you don’t love me.’ What hinders us from being faithful to men is really a form of self-love. We love our own feelings so much that we are not willing to run the risk of offending people and getting them mad at us. Oh, they may perish in hell, but that is all right just so long as they perish loving us. I have heard people say of certain ministers, ‘That man surely preached in a fearless manner.’ Why, brethren, that ought to be said of every one of us, because our love to men must be such that we are willing to communicate the truth, truth that they may not relish, but which is for their good and their salvation. (“What’s Wrong with Preaching Today?”)

The Minister’s Fear of God

A minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ should know the smile of God and the fear of God. According to Al Martin:

The best definition I know of the fear of God is found in John Brown’s Commentary on I Peter where he uses eighteen pages to expound the little phrase ‘fear God.’ The essence of his comments on that section is that the fear of God is an attitude and disposition in which one regards the smile of God as his greatest delight, and hence his primary aim, and the frown of God as the greatest thing to be dreaded and avoided. A man, who walks in the fear of God amongst men, as the servant of men, but with an eye single to the smile or frown of God, is the man whose motive is such that his tongue will be loosed to speak the mind of God. God said to Jeremiah, ‘Be not afraid of their faces lest I confound thee before them. They shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee, for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee.’ Jeremiah had previously said to the Lord, upon the indication of God’s call to the prophetic office, ‘But I am a child, I know not how to speak.’ God said to Jeremiah, ‘Say not, I am a child, for to whomsoever I shall send thee thou shalt go, and whatsoever I command thee, thou shalt speak.’ God was saying, in essence, that his call to the prophetic office was not a matter of his experience or age, but that God was looking for a vessel that would go where He would send it, and would say what He would command it. In I Thessalonians 2:4 the Apostle Paul declares, ‘As we were allowed of God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God who trieth our hearts.’

One of the elements of powerful preaching is preaching as a man that has been liberated. Liberated from what? From the ensnaring effects of the fear of men. You are never free to be an instrument of blessing to your people unless you are free from the effects of their smiles and their frowns. People know when you can be bought by their smiles and beaten by their frowns. It will not take them long to discern whether or not you are a man who is not affected either by their smiles or by their frowns. Such a man is a free man in Christ. The Word of God declares, ‘The fear of man bringeth a snare.’ Such fear will snare your tongue, so that when those flashes of spiritual light come to you in the pulpit, and there are applications that you know will sting and wound some choice member of the church, if your eye is to men, you will be unable to give utterance to that which you know you ought to. But when you are free from your people’s smiles or frowns, you are at liberty to be an instrument of blessing to them. I submit that if there is to be increased power in the pulpit, there must be a return to the purity of motivation, comprised in the fear of God. (“What’s Wrong with Preaching?”)

A Potential Elder’s Domestic Life

A pulpit ministry may be greatly hindered if the pastor cannot rule his own house properly. Al Martin explains:

The ministry of many a church is being terribly hampered by the absence of practical piety in the life of the teaching elder. It is significant that in I Timothy 3, having mentioned that the man must be blameless, Paul immediately moves to a specific area that of the potential elder’s domestic life. ‘If any man be blameless, the husband of one wife, having children not accused of riot or unruly, for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the house of God?’ And I say, not censoriously, but with true concern, that many pulpit ministries of some precious servants of God are being negated by the failure of practical piety in the realm of domestic life. A situation came to my attention recently where a minister was actually asked to resign his church because of the wagging tongue of his wife. The problem was not basically the man’s message or his ministry, but his failure to rule his own house, and to bring his wife into line in the area of her gossiping tongue. How dare we ministers call upon others to be obedient to the Word of God, if we are blatantly disobedient in this matter? God clearly says that, to qualify for the teaching elder’s position, our own houses must be ruled well. It does not say that they must be ruled perfectly; it does not say that we have power to infuse grace into the souls of our children. But, if we do not have clear principles and our own lives are not sufficiently weighty by their own godly example to rule our houses, how can we rule the House of God? That is the vital question. It is my own personal conviction that if a man fails to meet this requirement, he has no more right to remain in the ministry than if he fails in one of the other requirements. I would not presume to judge in individual cases, for that is God’s work, but certainly it cannot be of God that, in church after church, there is little pulpit power because the life of the minister is so shoddy in the area of practical piety, particularly in domestic matters. (“What’s Wrong with Preaching?”)

Weakness in Ministry

The Word of God must be the Book that we relish if we are to avoid weakness in our ministry. We should eagerly peruse its pages because we long to know His will. We should be found often and long in the pages of Holy Scripture because we desire our preaching and service to be shaped and formed by the living God. According to Al Martin:

By personal observation of my own weaknesses and the weaknesses of my brethren in the ministry, I am forced to conclude that preaching today is defective because of a failure to be watchful in several areas. First of all, the area of one’s personal devotional life. I said earlier that some of these conclusions were based upon my observations made while going from church to church as an itinerant minister. One of the most disturbing discoveries made during this time was the fact that very few ministers have any systematic, personal, devotional habits. I made it a practice to meet with the host pastor to pray and to share areas of common concern. When we would finally tear away the cursed façade of professionalism, and begin to be honest with the Lord and with each other, and confess our sins one to another and pray one for another, the confession came out again and again that the Word of God had ceased to be a living Book of devotional relationship to Christ and had become the official manual for the administration of professional duties. Is it any wonder that the ministry of such men is marked by doctrinal imbalance? Is it any wonder that there is such coldness of heart? Is it any wonder that there is little close, searching application of Scripture when the great majority of contemporary preachers admit that they do not systematically expose themselves to the Book of God for the purpose of personal illumination and sanctification?

In II Timothy 3, a chapter which we love to quote when we are demonstrating the truth of the inspiration and the authority of the Scriptures, there is a word spoken to us as the servants of God that is most searching. The Apostle Paul says to Timothy in verse 15, ‘from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures. And this is their first function, ‘They are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.’ They have led you to faith in Jesus Christ and unto the salvation that is in Him. But, Timothy, that is not the only function of the Scriptures. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine [teaching] for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Notice that he explicitly states that the inspired Scriptures are for the perfecting and maturing of the Man of God. In other words, the entirety of divine revelation should have as its primary function in the life of the servant of God, his own personal sanctification. No preacher is furnished to preach simply by possessing a gift to analyze a text and by the ability to explain it by word of mouth. If the word he would preach to others has not first been the instrument of his own personal indoctrination and instruction unto sanctification, he is not fit to declare it to others. This is the function of the Word of God in the life of the preacher, and this function must always be primary. As preachers, you and I are first of all Christians, and secondly, Christian ministers. And that order must never be reversed. You and I are to take heed to ourselves, and then, and only then, to our doctrine. We are to save ourselves first of all, and then, those that hear us. Jeremiah declared ‘Thy words were found and I did eat them, and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.’ Too often, we must make the confession, ‘Thy words were found and I did examine them, and thy words were unto me the form and substance of the sermon in my head.’ By contrast, the weeping prophet could say, ‘Thy words were found and I did assimilate them to myself personally — I experienced their exhilarating power in my own life.’ This is precisely what Paul is telling Timothy — ‘Let that word teach you. Get your doctrinal instruction on your knees with the open Scripture, so that the principles of truth come not as icy propositions merely resting on the surface of your mind, but see to it that they come as sentient living truths burned into the fibers of your heart. Let that word teach you, Timothy. Let it reprove you. Let it whip you. Let it correct you. Let it instruct you in the way of holiness that you may be thoroughly furnished unto all good works.’ (“What’s Wrong with Preaching?”)

Consider the Preacher

When we consider placing men in positions of authority in the church, there is often a failure to consider their personal lives and spiritual condition. Al Martin writes:

The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore, an overseer must be above reproach. . . . (1 Timothy 3:1-2 ESV)

… if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain. . . . (Titus 1:5-7 ESV)

It is interesting that in regard to the teaching elder as set forth in I Timothy 3:1 and in Titus 1:6, the first requirement for anyone aspiring to this office is not doctrinal, but experimental. ‘If any man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be’ — and what is the first word? — ‘blameless’. He must be a man known for his consistent and practical godliness. In the passage found in Titus, the latter part speaks of one of the requirements as that of ‘holding fast the faithful word.’ However, the first requirement set out is in the realm of the minister’s life. Why? For the simple reason that Paul lived and ministered under this conviction, that the life of a man’s ministry was the minister’s life itself. I believe these passages suffice to enunciate the principle, although much more could be brought forward to establish this particular point. It is no surprise to me that preaching has fallen upon bad days when the clear priorities of these ministerial requirements have been set aside. In ordination councils, men are grilled for hours in an attempt to discover their ability to refute heretics on minute theological points, whereas seldom is any question asked regarding advances in personal and domestic piety, which factors the Apostle Paul placed at the top of the list of ministerial requirements. (“What’s Wrong with Preaching”)

The Pattern of a Minister’s Life

Preaching has fallen upon bad times since so little regard for the Biblical requirements for ministers have been largely ignored. Al Martin writes:

Paul says in I Thessalonians 1, ‘Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God, for our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sakes’. He states that there was a direct relationship between the gospel coming ‘in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance’ and the kind of men who preached it. You will find that same thought developed in chapter two of the same letter where Paul says, in verse 10, ‘Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe.’ Then he says in verse 13, ‘For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually works also in you that believe.’ There is a vital relationship between these two things. He says, on the one hand, ‘You know how we conducted ourselves’, and on the other hand, ‘we know how you received the word.’ These two things are not to be isolated. Paul and his companions stood as living embodiments of the power of the Word of God, so that when they spoke that Word it came with authority to their hearers. Notice that the apostle does not shrink to use a testimony as to the manner of his living as a witness to the validity of his preaching ministry.

In Titus two, there is some detailed instruction as to what Titus should preach and teach. Paul commands him in verse 7, ‘In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works.’ In other words, as ministers of God we are not only to proclaim right things by precept, but we are to embody these right things in a right example. Then, of course, there is that classic passage, I Timothy 4:16. ‘Take heed to thyself and to thy teaching; continue in these things. For in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.’ In essence, Paul is saying: ‘Timothy, carelessness in your own personal life will result in some measure of shoddiness in the discharge of your responsibility to the souls over whom the Holy Ghost has made you an overseer. Failure to take heed to yourself will in some measure result in failure to see the saving purpose of God wrought in the hearts of those to whom you minister.’ I have made these remarks as one who believes without reservation Paul’s statements of truth concerning the immutability of the purpose of God and the certainty of the salvation of all His elect. Yet we must not bleed out of this passage in I Timothy its obvious implication, that Timothy would not be that instrument of God that he could be unless he took heed to himself and then to his teaching. (“What’s Wrong with Preaching?”)