More Shankill Road preaching

 

Facebook link to sermon on 1 Peter 1:18-19 The Precious Blood

Facebook link to sermon on Matthew 23:37 Christ would have gathered etc.

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Shankill Mission Preaching 2

 

Click here for Facebook Link to sermon

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Shankill Road Mission preaching (1)

Click here for FaceBook link to sermon

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Kesh Preaching 1st August 2021

Preached yesterday in Kesh FPC (Co. Fermanagh). Facebook linked sermons below:

Morning meeting: You did run well etc. (Galatians 5:7)

Evening meeting: Behold what manner of love etc. (1 John 3:1)

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Aughnacloy Preaching

 

Preached yesterday (18th July, 2021) in Aughnacloy Free Presbyterian Church (Co, Tyrone). Both messages, available on the church Facebook page are linked here.

Click here for morning message on Isaiah 43:1-3 "When thou passest through the waters etc."

Click here for evening message on John 19:28 "I thirst..." 

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Lloyd Jones Book Review

 BOOK REVIEW: 

Title of book: The Passionate preaching of Martyn Lloyd Jones

Author: Steven J. Lawson

Publisher: Reformation Trust

Publisher’s Address or address where book may be obtained: www.amazon.co.uk

Year of publication:2016

Number of Pages: 188

Hdbk or pbk: Hardback

Price: £11.33 (post free)

ISBN-10: 1567696384

This book is a delight to read and its lessons are a challenge to ponder. It concerns the great pulpit ministry of Martyn Lloyd Jones who regularly preached the word of God to audiences of over 2,000 people every week in the latter part of the 20^th century in London. Sometimes, when we see numbers like these, we are apt to wonder what it was that drew so many people in. Was it the praise band? Was there (thinking of a quote from Spurgeon) some form of amusement for the goats? Was the man on the stage given to humour and became, even inadvertently, the best free entertainment on a Sunday night in a city noted for its musicals and shows? Not at all. MLJ  had none of these things. He simply gave his whole self to the exposition of Scripture without any gimmicks. Those who came saw a man in a pulpit expounding and applying the text of Scripture for between 40 and 60 minutes. Nor did he feed the sub evangelical desire for fancy preaching on fancy texts and themes. For a different reason than that of the wicked and careless Galileo, MLJ cared for none of these things. He preached the great doctrinal themes with great depth and with great effect.

MLJ retired from the pastorate in 1968 and spent the remaining 13 years of his life in editing his sermons, including his great volumes on Romans and Ephesians. Drawing from these works, along with others, Steven Lawson brings us great gems on what true Biblical preaching really is. MLJ insisted on the necessity of the Spirit’s work, working through the preacher who was obliged to give himself to the deep study of the Bible.  MLJ was a preacher of Reformed theology and due space in given to those parts of his sermons where he expounded the Calvinistic Doctrines of Grace.

In the long history of great Protestant preachers, MLJ is relatively recent. His sermons may be found on SermonAudio and you can “hear” his distinct voice as you read the various quotes attributed to him in the book. This well produced book is part of the “Long Line of Godly Men” series which are mostly, though not exclusively, penned by Mr Lawson. It is well worth buying.

 

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Invited

Last week, I had an interesting Twitter chat with a couple of Calvinist friends on the issue of the gospel being both a command and an invitation. You can follow it here.  

Evidently, the sinner is commanded to repent and believe the gospel. The imperative to both is found in Mark 1:15 while Acts 17:30 "God commandeth all men everywhere to repent" needs no explanation. It is a sin when sinners do not believe on Christ (John 16:9) and the cause of their condemnation (John 3:18/36) This is not the language of a mere suggestion, but a clear command to obey the gospel. The Lord Jesus is coming again to take vengeance on those who know not God and that obey not the gospel (2 Thessalonians 1:8)

The word invited only appears three times in the Bible. It is never used by God, but once each by Samuel (1 Samuel 9:24) Absalom (2 Samuel 13:23) and Haman referring to Esther (Esther 5:12). 

God is a God of love and compassion. When He was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, He is portrayed in the Bible as One who yearns over lost sinners. See Him weeping over the rebellious sinners of Jerusalem and telling us, midst His hot and copious tears, how He would have gathered them, but they would not (Matthew 23:37) I am pretty sure that His words of condemnation in Matthew 23 were delivered in severe tones. We are commanded in Romans 9 to behold both the goodness and severity of God, and a severe tone would do full justice to the words He uttered. However, it can hardly be anything other than right to suppose that His tones in John 7:37 (loud cry notwithstanding) and in Matthew 11:28-30 were delivered with all the sweetness of an invitation. 

The wise preacher, who always seeks out acceptable words (Ecclesaistes 12:10), will know when to employ and how to employ both methods of delivery. The great aim is to get the sinner to Christ and to do so by employing Scriptural language. Sometimes he will woo and other times, he will rebuke. Often, in the same sermon, being largely dictated by his text and its subsequent development. I would suggest that he tries to avoid coming to the end of every sermon with a blast of hell fire. Jonathan Edwards might have had the sinners clinging to their seat in fear of dropping into the Hell, but that was in his suitably entitled sermon: "Sinners in the hands of an angry God" based on Deuteronomy 32:35. It seems a bit rough to preach a whole sermon on "God is Love" and then labour at the end for 7 full minutes developing the thought of how hot the undying flames of an everlasting Hell really are. 

This business of command and invite reminded me of some words of CH Spurgeon - the great Calvinist evangelist par excellent.  In his sermon from Luke 14:23 "Compel them to come in" (Park Street 5 # 227) CHS used the words command in relation to repentance. 

But do you spurn it? Do you still refuse it? Then I must change my tone a minute. I will not merely tell you the message, and invite you as I do with all earnestness, and sincere affection — I will go further. Sinner, in God’s name I command you to repent and believe.

Spurgeon developed this theme, concentrating on the fact that his authority for such a command came from God whose gospel he preached. But still, he could anticipate sinners sitting on in their sins. But Spurgeon wasn't for giving up. He seemed to sense that some of the fish he was supposed to be catching (compelling them to come in) were sniffing at the bait. So he changed tactic. He continued:

But do you turn away and say you will not be commanded? Then again will I change my note. If that avails not, all other means shall be tried. My brother, I come to you simple of speech, and I exhort you to flee to Christ. O my brother, dost thou know what a loving Christ he is? Let me tell thee from my own soul what I know of him. I, too, once despised him. He knocked at the door of my heart and I refused to open it. He came to me, times without number, morning by morning, and night by night; he checked me in my conscience and spoke to me by his Spirit, and when, at last, the thunders of the law prevailed in my conscience, I thought that Christ was cruel and unkind. O I can never forgive myself that I should have thought so ill of him. But what a loving reception did I have when I went to him. I thought he would smite me, but his hand was not clenched in anger but opened wide in mercy. I thought full sure that his eyes would dart lightning-flashes of wrath upon me; but, instead thereof, they were full of tears. He fell upon my neck and kissed me; he took off my rags and did clothe me with his righteousness, and caused my soul to sing aloud for joy; while in the house of my heart and in the house of his church there was music and dancing, because his son that he had lost was found, and he that was dead was made alive. I exhort you, then, to look to Jesus Christ and to be lightened. Sinner, you will never regret, — I will be bondsman for my Master that you will never regret it, — you will have no sigh to go back to your state of condemnation; you shall go out of Egypt and shall go into the promised land and shall find it flowing with milk and honey. The trials of Christian life you shall find heavy, but you will find grace will make them light. And as for the joys and delights of being a child of God, if I lie this day you shall charge me with it in days to come. If you will taste and see that the Lord is good, I am not afraid but that you shall find that he is not only good, but better than human lips ever can describe.

 I think this change of voice here is simply wonderful!  What! The vile, bankrupt  sinner sitting in the pew would not be commanded by the glorious God of Heaven and earth! What a great opportunity to thunder out Romans 9:20 "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?" But Spurgeon didn't go there. He was determined to (metaphorically) kill the sinner with love. Did he sense the great door of the sinner's heart weakening? To rebuke might well have summonsed other nefarious forces to secure the door.  Spurgeon wanted in!  And, as we can see, often (under God) he got in. 

John Calvin is not our standard, but he is useful to show that Calvinism is not afraid of the invite word in relation to sinners coming to Christ. He wrote in his commentary:

These repetitions describe the patience of God in calling us; for he does not merely invite us once, but when he sees that we are sluggish, he gives a second and even a third warning, in order to conquer our hardheartedness. Thus he does not all at once reject those who despise him, but after having frequently invited them. (Isaiah 55:3)

To go back to Spurgeon again. I never tire of recommending Iain Murray's excellent little book "Spurgeon v. Hyper Calvinism - the Battle for Gospel Preaching." I command you to buy it, and if you don't, I plead with you to do so. Here is Calvinism at its purest and warmest.

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What I have written

Click on picture to enlarge

When I first started preparing preaching messages away back somewhere around 1981-82, home computers were not even on the horizon. At least as far as I was concerned. I got my first computer 15 years after I started preaching, although I did previously own an expensive electric word processor. At that time, the WP was the poor man's computer. The WP had a very small screen and was probably more of a hinderance than a help. I must have hundreds of sermons all faithfully stored in my hard drive and easily retrievable at a few clicks of a computer mouse. 

In the last year, I have gone back to the old method again of writing my messages out by hand. (I am sorely tempted to refer to this method as the #oldpaths method) I simply take an A4 sheet of card of around 130 grams, fold it in two, slice the top with my strimmer, fold again and staple to make a small 8 page, A6 booklet. Then I get a good black gel pen that glides nicely over the card and start writing. 

The reason for this change: I found that I got too intense when I was typing my messages out. If I got even half the liberty preaching that I sometimes got when I was typing, then I would have had greater liberty than CH Spurgeon on one of his better days :o) Unfortunately the liberty often went  AWOL between the well battered keyboard and the pulpit, and I was left with a very stilted sermon to preach. At least, that is how it seemed to me. The old method, described above, leaves me room to put shorter notes down and (generally speaking) the liberty hangs around a bit longer. 


The main disadvantage with the old pen and card method is that I have my efforts recorded only on a solitary piece of card. My study is replete with such efforts here, there and yonder. I am not the tidiest of people, although a 5-10 minute frenzied search can usually turn up the required item. I suppose I could scan them in and store them on my computer, but it seems to be a messy procedure, particularly at the print, cut and glue together process at the end. The new fangled method of typing your sermons out on the computer certainly can claim priority on this point. 

(BTW: My untidy study reminds me of one of Sherlock Holmes stories where the great detective was aghast to find that his landlady had dusted his office for him.  This wrecked his filing method whereby he could work out the date of his various bundles of files by the amount of dust that had amounted on them.)

I am aware that the liberty of the Spirit does not flow from a particular method of recording your preaching notes. That is taken for granted. I am looking at this from a human point of view. Every man therefore to his own on this matter of sermon notes. On this matter, you can afford to be pragmatic and, if it works for you, then go with the flow...

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preaching

PREACHING: THE GENIUS OF BIBLE PROTESTANTISM

 
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young

I didn't ... did I?

THINGS I DID AS A YOUNG PREACHER AND DON'T PLAN TO DO AGAIN

I am unaware of any one who actually despised my youth as I engaged on these things. My guess is that some groaned inwardly or stifled a smile, but still had an encouraging word at the door anyway. In no particular order:

1) I preached when I was about 19-20 as if I was Elijah in all the fulness of his power. Well, I didn't really, but I certainly tried to. In 1980's Northern Ireland, my stream of Bible Fundamentalism tended to be the militant variety. Apostates were there to be shot at. I still have my pocket Bible where favourite verses highlighted included 1 Kings 18:27 where Elijah mocked the prophets of Baal. The sermons I enjoyed listening to most were the militant ones. I didn't always preach militant texts, but probably managed to get some militant statement into the most serene. This is one reason why I generally get turned off by gunslinging preachers. I probably shouted a bit in the those days. I was never a pulpit banger - that probably would have finished any credibility I ever had off altogether. Today I don't shout at all. 

2) I went through the apt alliteration artful aid stage where my Thersaurus was more thumbed than my Bible. I haven't actually abandoned alliteration altogether, but I hardly use it now. I remember reading through a volume of Robert Murray McCheyne's sermons and being struck with the plainness of his outlines. I cringe now at some alliteration especially when a pretty obvious word is passed over to accomodate the other 2 or 3 which begin with the letter 'R' or 'S'. The same words tend to turn up in every other sermon.

3) Perhaps due to lack of serious Bible knowledge - my zeal to develope my gift outrunning my knowledge to feed it - I sometimes went for clever sermons rather than strictly Biblical ones. In his commentaries on the gospels, Bishop JC Ryle would often comment in the notes section how a certain thought was doubtless true, before adding that it wasn't the teaching of that particular text. Scripture was borrowed rather than expounded. I remember preaching once on the "Great Open Air Meeting" from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 and drawing parallels between an open air meeting and the event known as the Rapture. Some of these mightn't have even been clever. The smart idea was the predominant feature. Scripture got wrapped round it. Looking back it sounds so corny now that I positively blush. At least Sermon Audio wasn't around in those says and cassette tapes do eventually perish. (PTL) 

4) I can't think immediately of any other vices from those early days. If some come back to haunt me, I'll post them up. Confession, they say, is good for the soul... 

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redhotpreaching

RED HOT, BRING THE ROOF DOWN,  LEATHER LUNGED, HIT IT OUT OF THE PARK, SPLEEN BUSTIN', SIDE ACHIN' PREACHIN’

Click on picture to enlarge

Click picture to enlarge

One theme that comes up again and again in some so called Fundamentalist tweets (usually before, during and after their conferences) is the theme of “red hot preaching” which can often be confused with shoutin’ and hollerin’ If you want to hear shoutin and hollerin’ and see bucket loads of sweat and thick spittle flood the pulpit desk and altar floor and up the aisles too (I exaggerate, but only just…) then look at the links at the bottom after you’ve read my post. Just move the marker in a fair bit after the sermon has started and you’ll be fine.

What exactly is “red hot preaching”? I assume that it is preaching against sin or perceived sin using strong language, but stopping short of swearing.  It is preaching the way Billy Sunday the Presbyterian evangelist used to do against booze.  (FTR: I generally like old Sunday. I read a book of his sermons years ago.) It is naming sins and abandoning the fine English of the 1611 Authorised Version to use gutsy language while generally thumping the pulpit.

Sometimes, the preacher is encouraged to “bring the roof down” which (as I type) reminds me of Samson. Not sure, if that is the wisest thing to ask for, especially if you intend to be there. Other buzz words are employed. Another preacher from this stable tells us that if our sides aren’t aching after a sermon, then we haven’t really preached. The opposite to such “red hot preaching,” BTW, is supposedly “Dead Church” which is an obvious “no-no” and so, we are effectively tied into this shoutin and hollerin and pulpit banging etc.

Old John Knox, the Scottish Calvinist Reformer, used to “ding the pulpit to blads” which to those illiterate in the Scots leid simply means that he thumped his pulpit so much as he preached that it either fell apart or large bits broke off. OK. I’ll take that on board, along with the fact that Spurgeon referred to it and seemed to agree with it. Fair enough. Knox was an angry red blooded Scots man literally at war with the Popish Queen Mary who was a “devout Roman Catholic” (to be politically correct as I roll my eyes) and her Spanish co-religionists. Knox ended up as a galley slave on a Spanish ship for a while, so he had a sharp axe to grind.  

However, we must ask: So what if John Knox could shout and roar with the rest of them? Can you name me anyone else at that time who did it? To be honest, I would rather read his sermons (all good stuff) than hear him preach, although it would be nice to have a recording too. Did Luther shout and roar? Did John Calvin? Spurgeon, for all his admiration of Knox, didn’t. Neither did Tozer who observed that his faithful, penetrating preaching barred him from every Conference platform in America.

What if they did shout and roar? They are not the ultimate standard. The ultimate standard is the Bible and (I suppose) the NT in particular. Allowing for the fact that words like “red hot preachin’” are probably relatively new, yet where do we see their like in the inspired records?  OK, Isaiah was told to lift up his voice like a trumpet and the thought of the watchman doesn’t allow much room for dignified, carefully thought out sentences. But I don’t think even those fearless prophets who were sent to apostate Israel or Judea shouted and roared for hours and got hoarse and lost their voice. I refer you again to the links beneath.

Here’s another thought. Not every one needs “red hot sermons” denouncing real or imaginary sins. Sometimes hurting people need to hear the still small voice as opposed to the whirlwind.  Bringing the house down or hitting it out of the park seems to appeal more to the sensation seekers rather than the saints.

Of course, it is not a matter of either/or. Sometimes, it calls for the strong “No Surrender” stuff. But (I guess) that the vast majority of the times, the saints (likened unto sheep, as well as soldiers) just need to be quietly fed. The Good Shepherd in Psalm 23 led them besides the still waters. I don’t think he roared until his sides ached to do so.

Although I am a Calvinist, I still manage to be an admirer of old John Wesley. Wesley saw revival on a big scale. He was the quintessential Englishman with the stiff upper lip etc., but he had the heart of a lion and often faced down angry and violent mobs as he preached all over the British Isles.  Listen to his advice to a budding preacher:

"Scream no more, at the peril of your soul. God now warns you by me, whom he has set over you. Speak as earnestly as you can; but do not scream. Speak with all your heart; but with a moderate voice. It was said of our Lord, “He shall not cry:” The word properly means, He shall not scream. Herein be a follower of me, as I am of Christ. I often speak loud; often vehemently; but I never scream; I never strain myself. I dare not: I know it would be a sin against God and my own soul. Perhaps one reason why that good man, Thomas Walsh, yea, and John Manners too, were in such grievous darkness before they died, was, because they shortened their own lives."(Vol 12 Wesley’s Works)

#AmenRightThere? 

THE END

Oh yes...those promised videos:

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osLE9ZtsJgs#at=3169

* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_-jrR-zxXE&feature=youtu.be
* http://www.stufffundieslike.com/2013/09/politics-country-fried-edition/  

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