Preaching and Preachers

Evangelistic preaching and its importance; the restoration of authority to the pulpit; the place and importance of buildings.

The relationship between the pew and the pulpit; modern ideas of preaching based on false thinking.

Who is to preach? The 'call' to preach examined and explained; the marks of a preacher; the training required.

The whole person is involved; the delivery of the sermon; the sermon and the act of preaching.

Preaching must be theological; the preacher's duty is to present the Gospel; the delivery in general; the relationship of exposition to the sermon.

What is preaching? This is the question in focus for Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones as he begins this sermon. He says the preacher is the man to deliver the message from God to the people. The preacher is an ambassador for Christ. He’s not there to entertain people toward Christ. Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains that preaching is a transaction where the people are given the mind of God through the written Word, explained by a faithful preacher. The danger arrives when preaching is replaced by digital versions, print versions, group discussions, and therapy sessions that foster opinion. The eternal, holy God is not up for debate! We are dealing with the living God and we must never approach the subject in the cavalier manner as if His very existence were up for debate. Since the heart of preaching addresses man’s eternal destiny and design, we cannot reduce this message to a trivial discussion. There is no neutral point where Christian and non-Christian can meet. There’s no morally neutral ground that they can agree on since one is of darkness and the other is of light. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians, God uses the foolish to expose the supposedly wise. Too much of the world today – and the church today – want to make a rebellious man look wise. Apart from humility, man will never understand revelation. Jesus Himself thanked God that He hid the Gospel from the “wise” and revealed it to "babies." As Dr. Lloyd-Jones concludes, true preaching lifts up Christ so that He draws people to salvation.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones opens the Word of God and confronts the tendency to depreciate preaching at the expense of other forms of activity. As those who have the Good News, we must tell the truth. Other agencies, politicians, cults, false religions, and nonprofits can do their work, but they cannot preach the Gospel. They can ease the pain of the human condition, but they cannot change the heart. The primary task of the Church is not to make a man happy, good, or even well off. The primary task of the Church is to deliver the truth about man and the remedy in Christ. The danger is that the Church will tinker with the symptoms and bury the real trouble. To merely treat the symptoms without discovering the cause is a criminal act. In the end, everyone suffers. It takes a specialist to isolate the radical problem and deal with it in a radical manner. This is the work of every preacher, says Dr. Lloyd-Jones. Fashions, votes, and stones are nothing new to the Church. Be warned not to fall prey to them. When the Church takes care of her primary purpose, God works through it to provide relief to others. The Protestant Reformation birthed hospitals, schools, and many other property relief efforts, stimulus to science, literature, etc. The preaching of the Gospel from the pulpit, applied by the Holy Spirit, has been a means of dealing with personal problems that the preacher knows nothing about. Counseling has its place, but most counseling will be done from the pulpit. Anything else is a failure to folfill the great mandate given to the church.

After 42 years in ministry, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones proclaims the most urgent need in the church today is that of preaching. The world says it is outdated, but to Christians, it is the way God intended His Word to be taught through the ages. Without question, there are things in the church that are wrong, such as traditionalism and institutionalism. However, preaching is still its primary task. Listen as Dr. Lloyd-Jones identifies the key reasons why preaching has suffered a serious downgrade in the church today. He begins recounting those who make light of the orator's ability, suggesting that if a man is a great speaker, he is not honest. Another reason preaching has suffered is that with all the availability of information through radio, TV, and books, there is less perceived need for preaching. Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains that it is one thing to be a master of fine phrases, but not the master of the sacred text. Essays are not sermons, and oratory eloquence can be the form replacing the substance. He further points out how the emphasis on entertainment has damaged the power of the pulpit saying, “So much time is spent creating the atmosphere that there’s no time to preach in the atmosphere." This downgrade impacts those outside the church. Dr. Lloyd-Jones proclaims that Jesus did not come into the world to heal the sick; He came to save sinners. Don't make primary what Jesus made secondary. We must do the one thing that the world wants to stop: preach. The world did not stop Christ from doing miracles, but they crucified Him for His preaching. The priority is not to serve tables, but to do the ministry of the Word and prayer. Those are the preacher's priorities. Renewed preaching always harrolds the dawn of reformation.

Mark 16

Mark 15