All posts tagged: Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Preaching and the Power of the Holy Spirit

Off July 20, 2015


The following is an excerpt from Dr. David Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ classic work on preaching, Preaching and Preachers. 

You can download the mp3 lecture series the book was based on for free or listen to the mp3 below of the chapter “The Spirit and Power.”

The first indication is in the preacher’s own consciousness. ‘Our gospel came not unto you in word only,’ says Paul, ‘but also in power and the Holy Ghost, and much assurance.’ Who knew the assurance? Paul himself. He knew something was happening, he was aware of it. You cannot be filled with the Spirit without knowing it. He had ‘much assurance’. He knew he was clothed with power and authority. How does one know it? It gives clarity of thought, clarity of speech, ease of utterance, a great sense of authority and confidence as you are preaching, an awareness of a power not your own thrilling through the whole of your being, and an indescribable sense of joy. You are a man ‘possessed’, you are taken hold of, and taken up. I like to put it like this— and I know of nothing on earth that is comparable to this feeling— that when this happens you have a feeling that you are not actually doing the preaching, you are looking on. You are looking on at yourself in amazement as this is happening. It is not your effort; you are just the instrument, the channel, the vehicle: and the Spirit is using you, and you are looking on in great enjoyment and astonishment. There is nothing that is in any way comparable to this. That is what the preacher himself is aware of. What about the people? They sense it at once; they can tell the difference immediately. They are gripped, they become serious, they are convicted, they are moved, they are humbled. Some are convicted of sin, others are lifted up to the heavens, anything may happen to any one of them. They know at once that something quite unusual and exceptional is happening. As a result they begin to delight in the things of God and they want more and more teaching. They are like the people in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, they want ‘to continue steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine, and fellowship, and breaking of bread and in prayers’.

What then are we to do about this? There is only one obvious conclusion. Seek Him! Seek Him! What can we do without Him? Seek Him! Seek Him always. But go beyond seeking Him; expect Him. Do you expect anything to happen when you get up to preach in a pulpit? Or do you just say to yourself, ‘Well, I have prepared my address, I am going to give them this address; some of them will appreciate it and some will not?’ Are you expecting it to be the turning point in someone’s life? Are you expecting anyone to have a climactic experience? That is what preaching is meant to do. That is what you find in the Bible and in the subsequent history of the Church. Seek this power, expect this power, yearn for this power; and when the power comes, yield to Him. Do not resist. Forget all about your sermon if necessary. Let Him loose you, let Him manifest His power in you and through you. I am certain, as I have said several times before, that nothing but a return of this power of the Spirit on our preaching is going to avail us anything. This makes true preaching, and it is the greatest need of all today— never more so. Nothing can substitute for this. But, given this, you will have a people who will be anxious and ready to be taught and instructed, and led ever further and more deeply into ‘the Truth as it is in Christ Jesus’. This ‘unction’, this ‘anointing’, is the supreme thing. Seek it until you have it; be content with nothing less. Go on until you can say, ‘And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.’ He is still able to do ‘exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think’.

Bonus Resource: Free MP3 Download of Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ Preaching and Preachers Lectures

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What Ligon Duncan Loves about Martyn Lloyd Jones’ Preaching and Preachers

Off July 3, 2015

The following is an excerpt from Ligon Duncan’s article in Zondervan’s updated edition of Martyn Lloyd-Jones classic work, Preaching and Preachers. You can download the mp3 lecture series the book was based on for free.

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I encourage you to be on the lookout for some special aspects of this book. The following still arrest my attention when I reread it. I think that when you read this book, several (at least sixteen!) things will strike you.

1. How much the landscape of the church has changed since Lloyd- Jones mused on the background to the decline of preaching in our time. Nevertheless, his discussion is helpful and thought- provoking.

2. His crystal clear and emphatic definition of the work of church and pastor. “The primary task of the Church and of the Christian minister is the preaching of the Word of God.” He gives an overview and summary of his biblical case for this. His position is widely denied today but deserves reconsideration.

3. His assertion that great preaching always characterizes the great movements in the history of the Church . Reformation and revival, he says, are always attended by great preachers and great preaching.

4. His reflections on the social application of the gospel in relation to the primacy of preaching. Needless to say, this is a timely discussion for evangelicals again today. In connection with this subject, his argument that “the ultimate justification for asserting the primacy of preaching is theological” will supply you ample food for thought.

5. His emphasis on the importance of gathered, corporate, public worship . “Now the Church is a missionary body,” Lloyd- Jones says, “and we must recapture this notion that the whole Church is part of this witness to the Gospel and its truth and its message. It is therefore important that people should come together and listen in companies in the realm of the Church. That has an impact in and of itself.” “The very presence of a body of people in itself is a part of the preaching, and these influences begin to act immediately upon anyone who comes into a service.”

6. His rejection of what he calls “modern substitutes for preaching” (whether debates or discussion groups or conversation). Preaching, he says, “may be slow work; it often is; it is a long- term policy. But my whole contention is that it works, that it pays, and that it is honoured, and must be, because it is God’s own method.”

7. His taxonomy of three types of preaching: (1) evangelistic, (2) instructional- experimental (or experiential), and (3) didactic- instructional. Lloyd- Jones believed all three types were necessary, and all three should be explicitly theological. He fruitfully challenges us in this discussion to be theological in our preaching without turning our preaching into lecturing on theology, and he urges that we preach the Gospel, not preach about the Gospel.

8. His proposition that “a sermon should always be expository.” Lloyd- Jones defines the term “expository” and gives wise counsel on how to go about preparing such a message. This whole section bears thoughtful engagement.

9. His treatment of the preacher’s personality, authority, freedom, exchange, seriousness, liveliness, zeal, concern, warmth, rapport, urgency, persuasiveness, pathos, and power in the act of preaching . This section is solid gold. It is here that he says: “preaching is theology coming through a man who is on fire” and that the chief end of preaching is “to give men and women a sense of God and His presence.”

10. His negative assessment of “lay- preaching” and his counsel on what constitutes a call to ministry . Accompanying this section are useful remarks on the training and preparation of preachers and what they need to know to do their work. Along the way, homiletics classes come in for a pounding!

11. His discussion of “the pew” wrongly controlling “the pulpit” is fascinating. We can make all sorts of mistakes when we try too hard to read the congregation. But Lloyd- Jones is remarkably balanced in this: “I would lay it down as being axiomatic that the pew is never to dictate to, or control, the pulpit. This needs to be emphasized at the present time. But having said that, I would emphasize equally that the preacher nevertheless has to assess the condition of those in the pew and to bear that in mind in the preparation and delivery of his message.”

12. His warning to preachers not to “assume that all who claim to be Christians, and who think they are Christians, and who are members of the Church, are therefore of necessity Christians” is timely. This warning may be controversial to some, but Lloyd- Jones needs to be heard here.

13. His urging that the need for more than one service on Sunday , for “all the people who attend a church need to be brought under the power of the Gospel.” Lloyd- Jones believed the congregational attitude should be, “I want as much of the Word of God, the presence of the Lord, the worship of God as I can get.” Surely this bears contemplation in our “one hour a week” era of Christian worship.

14. His wise counsel. “Keep the music in its place. It is handmaiden, a servant, and it must not be allowed to dominate or to control in any sense.” This is guidance more needed today than ever before.

15. His encouraging words about “the romance of preaching” may well provide a new hope and spark a new flame in tired preachers’ hearts. He reflects on the incomparable feeling of preaching the Word of God to your own people, never knowing when the message is going to unfold in ways you didn’t expect even as you preach it, and never knowing when God is going to change someone’s life using words that you are privileged to speak for him.

16. His emphasis on the unction or anointing of the Spirit. “What is this? It is the Holy Spirit falling upon the preacher in a special manner. It is an access of power. It is God giving power, and enabling, through the Spirit, to the preacher in order that he may do this work in a manner that lifts it up beyond the efforts and endeavours of man to a position in which the preacher is being used by the Spirit and becomes the channel through whom the Spirit works.”

If you are new to the task of preaching, simply engaging with Lloyd- Jones will be a good, shaping, directing exercise in the formation of your practice of preaching. And if you have been long at the task and are now weary in the work of preaching, you may remember some things that you thought you’d long forgotten and feel a renewed passion to proclaim the Gospel and preach the cross and minister the Word.