“But what of Lloyd-Jones’s system? Here, we must be careful. He eschewed methods and was curtly dismissive of homiletics. Before forty ministerial students, he unveiled his suspicions when he put up the rhetorical question — ‘What can be said for homiletics?’ His revealing reply was ‘Not much’! On another occasion he was to refer to …
Two Pulpit Strengths
“There is a sense, as Lloyd-Jones would have affirmed, in which a man cannot be taught to preach. He is a preacher or he is not a preacher. But assuming that he is, his skills can be enhanced by a studied attempted at the two strengths which DML-J exhibited above all others: an enlightened mind …
True Likemindedness
INTRODUCTION: The apostle Paul has been piling one argument on top of another in his attempt to urge these Christians to get along with each other. He has appealed to the judgment seat of Christ, the sacrifice of Christ bestowed on the one you are at odds with, and the folly of slandering the very …
One Form of Pulpit Abuse
“Lloyd-Jones protested against the use of the pulpit as what he called ‘a coward’s castle’ into which a man might retreat to vent his spleen on his enemies or simply as a place where he can express his own view” (Sargent, A Sacred Anointing, p. 149).
Always Persuasive at the Time
“Charles Spurgeon tells of the most extreme case, the man who ‘preached so well and lived so badly, that when he was in the pulpit everybody said he ought never to come out again, and when he was out of it, they all declared he never ought to enter it again'” (Sargent, The Sacred Anointing, …
A Structural Servant
“Tricks of homiletics were repugnant to Lloyd-Jones. This does not mean he had no interest in structure. The reverse was the case. But form in a sermon is to be the preacher’s servant and not his superintendent” (Sargent, The Sacred Anointing, p. 115).
The Smile of God
“There is all the difference in the world between preaching merely from human understanding and energy, and preaching in the conscious smile of God” (Martyn Lloyd-Jones, as quoted in Tony Sargent, The Sacred Anointing, p. 79)
Righteousness, Peace and Joy
INTRODUCTION:The apostle spends quite a bit of time and energy on this question, and this is why we are doing the same thing. What will distract us from those things on which God places great value? It will be those things on which we try to place high value, and all on our own authority …
In Such a Way as to Catch Fire Itself
“‘Preaching,’ exclaimed Lloyd-Jones, ‘is theology coming through a man who is on fire'” (Sargent, The Sacred Anointing, p. 62).
How Can the Spirit be Missing . . . and No One Notices?
“Most books on preaching stress the need for preparation, for programmes and working to a clearly defined timetable. A random reading of modern contributions confirms the point. If reference is made to unction and dependence on the Spirit in the act of preaching, it tends to be incidental, a secondary feature for consideration. Lloyd-Jones would …