I really have never done a good job of this....over the past thirty years....although I tried many times....so many times....and this continues today....most recently as only three or four days ago in a conversation with a Christian friend. Here is the setting as it has always played out. I will be in a conversation with....a Christian friend. I will know the church that he goes to....and the typical sermons that he has heard his entire Christian life....because after forty years....I know evangelicalism....and I have something with which to compare it. I see the signs of malnourishment in my friend....lack of zeal and an unction for the salvation of souls....and a fascination for the baubles of this world....sports....wasted lives over who gets a championship trophy. So I tell them of a Charles Spurgeon sermon I heard....or a Martyn Lloyd-Jones or John Piper sermon....or a sermon of any one of many others who still preach in spirit and in truth. I try to describe the strengthening from hearing the majesties of Christ preached....and the glories of this our salvation. My hope is that they will believe me....and they will be excited....and want to know how they can hear something like this for themselves. It never happens.
I was in a conversation two days ago....with an unbeliever. He is new to the area....a humble man....a seemingly very decent man....and he was thinking about trying to find a church. He has no idea what the gospel of Jesus Christ is....he lives with his girlfriend. I been there....so I know conviction of rebellion to God....but I also know that God's mercy abounds even to sinners like us. So he needs to hear about judgment....and of the cross of Calvary....and the empty tomb....but he offers up that he desires to hear lively music in the church....and there are churches that will offer him that....and only that....but no salvation. I don't have a lot of time with him....only enough to comment that the most important thing is to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached....by men who know what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is. I recommend a church....but tell him in advance that it will not be the lively music that he wants. God is in charge of these things. We can only pray....but we must not compromise in any way.
I added these paragraphs to lead into this....a sermon I heard just this morning....a sermon that you the reader probably have never heard the likes of. I've never heard the likes of something like this. Today it was John Piper....not Spurgeon or Lloyd-Jones or any of the other pastors that I mention so often in these posts. It was preached quite a while ago I presume....on a Christmas Eve.....that being why it was broadcast today. I'm not even going to try to describe it. If your heart is being touched....and your interest piqued....and maybe your conscience pricked....you will take the time to listen to it....if not....the Steelers are on tonight.
I will say this. The pastor in the pulpit should not be bound by anything other than God's Word....not any session or church board....not concern over his future....not any preaching schedule....and not the faces in the pews. His eyes should be heavenward....for that is from where the power comes. Everything has to revolve around an unction to care for the spiritual lives of the sheep in the pews....and offerings of mercy through the gospel of Jesus Christ to the goats that wandered in.
The above mentioned sermon can be heard by Googling....John Piper, Jesus Christ In The Book Of Romans. John Piper never ceases to amaze me. He has an unction like so very few today....Spurgeon comes to mind....as does Bunyan....as does Jonathan Edwards....as does George Whitefield.
