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Sermon #PP03

The Sermon and Preaching

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Sermon Description

What is preaching? In this sermon titled “The Sermon and Preaching,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones 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. People are dealing with the living God and they must never approach the subject in the cavalier manner as if His very existence were up for debate. Since the heart of preaching addresses humanity’s eternal destiny and design, one 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—wants to make a rebellious person look wise. Apart from humility, no one will ever 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.

Sermon Breakdown

  1. Preaching is the primary task of the church and minister. It has been established through scripture and church history.
  2. Objection: Haven't times changed? Can't preaching be replaced by other media like TV, radio or reading?
  3. Objection: Can preaching be replaced by group discussions and dialogue?
  4. Response: God is not to be debated or discussed casually. He is the living God.
  5. The matters of faith are extremely serious and solemn. They cannot be approached casually or as entertainment.
  6. Unbelievers are incapable of properly discussing or understanding spiritual matters. They must first be humbled.
  7. True preaching will draw people to listen. God's methods are unchanging.
  8. Definition of preaching: Delivering God's message to people. The preacher is God's mouthpiece and ambassador.
  9. The preacher aims to impact the whole person - mind, emotions and will. The goal is life change.
  10. Preaching is a transaction between God and people through the preacher. It should leave a lasting impact.
  11. The preacher's role is not merely to interest or entertain people but to produce results - to influence and change them.
  12. There is a difference between the sermon/message and the act of preaching/delivery. Both are important.
  13. The sermon has a content/message and a form. The content is determined by what the preacher has received from God to share.
  14. The message is not topical comments, moral essays, general uplift or speculative thoughts. It is the word of God.
  15. The biblical message can be divided into the message of salvation (for unbelievers) and teaching (for believers). Teaching includes experimental and instructional preaching.

Sermon Q&A

What are the Main Reasons Dr. Lloyd-Jones Objected to Religious Debates?

According to Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, there are several key reasons why he objected to religious debates as a method of evangelism:

  1. God is not a subject for debate: "God is not to be discussed or debated. God is not a subject for debate because he is who he is and what he is." Lloyd-Jones believed that the very nature of God demands reverence, not casual discussion.

  2. The seriousness of the subject matter: "We are dealing with the most serious and the most solemn thing in life. We are dealing with something that we believe is not only going to affect the lives of these people with whom we are concerned while they're in this world, but also their eternal destiny." He compared it to a serious medical condition that requires treatment, not discussion.

  3. The spiritual incapacity of non-believers: "The man who is not a Christian is incapable of entering into a discussion about these matters... because he is blind and in a state of darkness." Lloyd-Jones referenced 1 Corinthians 2:14 to show that spiritual truths can only be discerned spiritually.

  4. The need to humble the natural man: "What the natural men needs above everything else is to be humbled, and this is absolutely essential before we can do anything with him at all." Lloyd-Jones believed debates put the unbeliever on equal footing rather than in a position to receive truth.

What Did Lloyd-Jones Define as True Preaching?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones defined true preaching as:

  1. A divine transaction: "Preaching is a transaction. It's something for the soul of men, for the whole of the person, the entire men, and it deals with him in this vital and radical manner."

  2. Life-changing communication: True preaching causes people to "become anxious about or reflected upon himself" so that they say, "I can never go back to live just as I was before."

  3. Addressing the whole person: "He is there to deal with the whole person, and his preaching is meant to affect the whole person at the very center of life."

  4. God's message delivered through a person: "This man is there to deliver the message of God and a message from God to those people. If you prefer the language of Paul, he is an ambassador for Christ."

What Distinguishes the Content of a Sermon from the Act of Preaching?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones made an important distinction between:

  1. The sermon content: The message itself, the substance and information being communicated.

  2. The act of preaching: The delivery, what Whitfield called "the lightning and the thunder" that "cannot be put into print."

He illustrated this distinction by sharing how someone described Daniel Rowland and George Whitfield: "As regards the oratory, as regards the delivery, as regards the act of preaching, as regards the soaring to the heights and lifting up the congregation with them... I really could detect very little difference between them. The one was as good as the other... the one big difference between them was this, that you could always be certain of getting a good sermon from Rowland, not always from Whitfield."

What Are the Two Main Types of Sermon Content According to Lloyd-Jones?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones identified two main categories for sermon content:

  1. The message of salvation (evangelistic preaching): Aimed at unbelievers, focused on "repentance that is toward God and the faith that is toward the Lord Jesus Christ." This type of preaching proclaims "the being of God" and leads people to conviction of sin and faith in Christ.

  2. The building up of believers (edification), which he further subdivided into:

  3. Experimental: Addressing the Christian experience and application
  4. Instructional: More directly teaching biblical doctrine and principles

Lloyd-Jones personally structured his ministry around these types: evangelistic preaching on Sunday nights, experimental preaching on Sunday mornings, and instructional preaching on weeknights.

Sermons: Preaching and Preachers

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.