I guess that I didn't look at the weather report....for I walked outside on my way to Planet Fitness....and it was 69 degrees! So after PF I took the opportunity to go on one of my summer walks....and it was wonderful. The wind coming at you at one point of my route is strong....but it was a warm and comfortable wind....as if walking on the beach. I can't remember the year....four or five years I'm guessing....where I started to listen to a sermon while at PF and on my walks....(you have read this before)....by either preachers of the past....or men today who preach like men of the past....but at first it was all Spurgeon and Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
I have forty years of hearing sermons....and not only hearing Lord's Day sermons but sermons and messages from conferences and tapes and the radio....and in that opinion from forty years....there has been no one quite like Charles Spurgeon. I'll give you an anecdote....they knew almost from Spurgeon's conversion at age 15 that he was something out of the ordinary. The first inclination was to find him a teacher....the seminary of that period....and they did....and an appointment was made for Spurgeon to meet him. The teacher showed up....and Spurgeon showed up....only at two different rooms of the building. God had other plans. So much for Spurgeon's formal education.
God gave the church Augustine....and Martin Luther....and Calvin....and a whole bunch of Puritans....among them John Bunyan. He gave the world the great missionaries of the past....'great' in what they accomplished. I could go on until you fall asleep. There have been great and wonderful preachers....and they tend to stick out....and no one today sticks out more than John Piper. The only way you would be able to verify what I say...or take issue with it....would be to listen for yourself.
It has been commented on....often....that Ben Hogan influenced the game of golf more than any other player. His swing was imitated....and his practice habits copied. Shakespeare's plays never grow old. How many times at a conference or on some kind of broadcast have we heard the story of the short life of David Brainard?
I have posted about this man before....a pastor that I had for about a ten year period. He did not have a powerful voice. In fact he had a slight stutter....but oh when he preached? There were many times when I could not move from my pew until I could get my breath back. It was about twenty years ago....and he was moving....and he gave me boxes of his books....mostly Puritan literature....but not all of it. Over the years I would go from one book to another. The latest one just happens to be right next to me...for I brought it up from the basement about a week ago....Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit....C. H. Spurgeon's....Original and Completely Unabridged....this book only Spurgeon's sermons from 1862. First published in 1969....this edition in 1985.....720 pages.
Paging through it....just about every page has underlining....all over the page....very neat underlining....some whole sentences but mostly words and phrases....and every book that he gave me is like that! This man in essence called down the glory of Christ in his sermons....but he obviously worked for it....and I know he pleaded with God....for I know him....and every year in a Christmas card I thank him for the blessings that his preaching has been.
Pastors....go to these men like Spurgeon....and J. C. Ryle....and Martyn Lloyd-Jones....this is not imitation....glean from them....plead for mercies of empowerment....the unction from the Holy Spirit that these men had....and that mercies would also be extended to us....whom you were given to shepherd.
