Tag Archives: Albert N. Martin

The Pastor’s Use of the Law II

The Law of God

Albert N. Martin

AUDIO

The following is a transcript of a sermon delivered on Thursday afternoon, October 20th, 2011 during the annual Pastor’s Conference at Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, NJ. The preacher is Pastor Albert N. Martin and this is the eighth and final session of the conference.

Those of you who were here yesterday will remember that Dr. Ferguson had to do some patchwork when he was not able to complete all he had hoped to cover in his first lecture and trying to patch it in to what he had prepared for the second lecture.

As I lay on the pew in the back there going over materials with a similar exercise, the analogy came to me that the lecturer sits on the back of the horse called the preacher and if the lecturer lets the reins go, the preacher takes off and you don’t know how fast and how far he’s going to go.

Well, I let the reins go a couple of times in the previous hour and it’s put me in trouble trying to find a reasonable and edifying way to finish up what I had hoped to cover in the last hour and still give you the fruit of my study in some areas that I feel are crucial.

So, what I’ve decided to do is to conclude the material by basically just giving you the five heads connected with what I called The Fact of His Sinlessness Applied, hopeful that you will then investigate these areas on your own.

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The Pastor’s Use of the Law I

The Law of God

Albert N. Martin

AUDIO

The following is a transcript of a sermon delivered on Thursday morning, October 20th, 2011, during the Annual Pastor’s Conference at Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, NJ. The preacher is Pastor Albert N. Martin and this is the seventh session in the conference.

If I were to take a text as a launching pad for what I want to convey to you this morning it would be a text such as John 5 and verse 39, where Jesus said,

“You search the Scriptures because you think in them you have eternal life and these are they which bear witness of Me.”

Our grand and glorious calling as ministers of the new covenant is succinctly identified in several places by the apostle Paul. One of them is Ephesians 3 and verse 8 where Paul speaks of his commission to be found preaching to the Gentiles what he calls the unsearchable riches of Christ, or, in the language of Colossians 1, having mentioned the Lord Jesus, he said, “whom we proclaim, teaching and admonishing every man that we may present every man perfect or mature in Christ” and he says, it is to that ministry I give myself, laboring, agonizing, but according to His working which works in me mightily.

And in the light of this calling, to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ, to proclaim Christ to every man, you and I must learn how to use the law, not only in the ways already highlighted during this conference—and I would simply, for what it’s worth, underscore in yellow and orange and red highlighters and under-liners, the various ways you and I have been instructed from the Scriptures that God would have us use His holy law, but in the light of this calling to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ, I want to suggest in these two final sessions that we must learn by God’s grace and through the Scriptures how to make the preaching of the law a means of making Christ more fully known, more implicitly trusted, more passionately loved and more diligently obeyed and if to any degree what I attempt to do behind this desk today leads to those ends, then I will not have labored in vain–

How to preach the law so that Christ Himself will be more fully known, more implicitly trusted, more passionately loved and more diligently obeyed.

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Effective Fatherhood Part I

Effective Fatherhood

Albert N. Martin

Please follow in your own Bibles, if you will, a passage from Paul’s first letter to the infant church of the Thessalonians. First Thessalonians, chapter two and the first twelve verses:

For yourselves, brethren, know our entering in unto you, that it hath not been found vain: but having suffered before and been shamefully treated, as you know, at Philippi, we waxed bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God in much conflict. For our exhortation is not of error, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile: but even as we have been approved of God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God who proves our hearts. For neither at any time were we found using words of flattery, as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness, God is witness; nor seeking glory of men, neither from you nor from others, when we might have claimed authority as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle in the midst of you, as when a nurse cherishes her own children: even so, being affectionately desirous of you, we were well pleased to impart unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because you were become very dear to us. For you remember, brethren, our labor and travail: working night and day, that we might not burden any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how holily and righteously and unblameably we behaved ourselves toward you that believe: as you know how we dealt with each one of you, as a father with his own children, exhorting you, and encouraging you, and testifying, to the end that you should walk worthily of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

Now, if you were giving any attention to the reading of this passage, you are already aware that it contains a biographical account of Paul’s ministry among the Thessalonians. And in the course of describing his and his companions’ labors among the Thessalonians, he uses analogies drawn from family relationships. You will notice the very striking one in verse seven: “we were gentle in the midst of you, as when a nurse cherishes her own children.” And then again in verse eleven: “as you know how we dealt with each one of you, as a father with his own children.” Now, obviously, the primary teaching of the passage has to do with Paul and his companions, as models for the gospel ministry.

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The Worship of God: Purity, Dignity, and Vivacity

Worship

Albert N. Martin

I would like to set the framework by turning your attention briefly to Ephesians 6, beginning with verse 10 and reading down to the first words of verse 14. Coming to the end of his marvelous letter to the churches in the Ephesus area, Paul writes:

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Wherefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore.”

In these few verses, four times the apostle is exhorting the people of God to stand, to withstand. In other words, he pictures the Christian soldier clad in the armor provided by God not so much going into the enemy’s territory and gaining new ground in the name and for the cause of Christ, but standing his own ground against the principalities and powers that are trying to dislodge him from the territory on which he stands in the name of Christ. Surely that’s the imagery in this passage.

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The Fear of God Part VI

The Fear of God

How To Maintain And Increase the Fear of God

Albert N. Martin

The fear of God is one of the most basic themes of Holy Scripture, yet sadly it is one of the most neglected themes of Scripture in our day. One mature and very able student of the word of God has been bold enough to make the statement that, “The fear of God is the very soul of godliness.” In other words, there is no life of godliness unless it is continually animated by the soul of the fear of God. We have seen that Scripture warrants the conclusion that the fear of God is the soil out of which a godly life grows, and the absence of the fear of God is the soil out of which an ungodly life grows. Because this matter is so vital, we need to consider how we are to maintain and increase the fear of God in our hearts.

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The Fear of God Part V

The Fear of God

Relationship of the Fear of God to Our Conduct

Albert N. Martin

We saw in the last chapter that whenever the fear of God is present it is because God has applied with power the New Covenant blessings purchased by the blood of Christ. The fear of God is thus a blessing that is inseparably joined with the joy and the realization of the forgiveness of sins. As one author has so beautifully said, “The heart is shy of a condemning God but closeth with and adhereth to a pardoning God.” Until a man knows the forgiveness of God based upon the blood of the everlasting covenant he will never rightly fear God. He may have terror of God; he may have a dread of God; but that terror and dread will drive him away from God. The fear of God couched in the consciousness of forgiveness is a fear that causes us to draw near to God and to cling to Him and to His ways.

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The Fear of God Part IV

The Fear of God

Source of the Fear of God

Albert N. Martin

One eminent commentator on the Bible has said, “It is well known that the fear of God is used to signify not only the whole of His worship but all godly affections whatsoever, and consequently the whole of true religion.” This writer could say that it is commonly understood by anyone who knows his Bible that the fear of God can be used as a synonym for the whole of true religion. I believe that a study of Scripture leads to that conclusion. But that also means that there is this terrible negative implication. If the fear of God is synonymous with the whole of true religion, then the absence of the fear of God is indicative of the absence of true religion.

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The Fear of God Part III

The Fear of God

Ingredients of the Fear of God

Albert N. Martin

Suppose someone were to read through his Bible with pen and paper in hand and jot down every explicit, overt reference to the fear of God he came across. In addition, he would record passages that contained, although not the explicit words, yet the thought and illustrations of the reality of the fear of God. I am quite confident that he would be able to fill many pages with references to this great theme. For the fear of God is one of the most dominant themes in Holy Scripture. It is that which the writer of the Proverbs says is the beginning or the chief part of all knowledge (Proverbs 1:7).

We have seen the fear of God illustrated and defined from Scripture. Now, we need to consider what are the essential ingredients of the fear of God. First, there must be correct concepts of the character of God. Second, there must be a pervasive sense of the presence of God. Third, there must be a constant awareness of our obligations to God.

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The Fear of God Part II

The Fear of God

Definition of the Fear of God

Albert N. Martin

The fear of God is the soul of godliness. As I pointed out, it is obvious to observant Christians that this pervasive and dominant theme of Holy Scripture has well nigh been lost to our own generation. As we endeavor to acquaint ourselves with at least some of the pivotal aspects of the scriptural teaching on this subject, we sought in the last study to do but one thing—to capture and feel something of the predominance of the fear of God in Biblical thought.

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The Fear of God Part I

The Fear of God

Predominance of the Fear of God in Biblical Thought

Albert N. Martin

The fear of God is one of the great and dominant themes of Holy Scripture. However, it is a subject concerning which there is almost total silence in our day. It is a theme that was very prominent both in the thinking and in the preaching of our forefathers. It is interesting that, when our spiritual forefathers desired to describe someone who was marked by unusual godliness, they would often call him a “God-fearing man.”

The fear of God is the soul of godliness. Take away the soul from the body and all you have left, in a few days, is a stinking carcass. Take away the fear of God from any expression of godliness and all you have left is the stinking carcass of Pharisaism and barren religiosity.

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