Preface: The church bulletin just came out for John MacArthur's church....and this will be the fourteenth straight week that he will not be in the pulpit due to his health. This morning I was listening to a Charles Spurgeon sermon from 1886....titled I believe....The Power Of Prayer....and in that sermon which I had posted on before....he literally pleaded for prayers for himself....for strength to fulfill his calling. So it is with John MacArthur....as he needs prayer....(I wish his church would be more public with updates and pleading for prayers.) What we ourselves need is to hear sermons preached with the power of the Holy Spirit....otherwise we shrivel up....lose our discernment....and waste what little time in life that we have left. If you do not get these sermons in your church....(spoiler alert....you probably don't....they are rare today)....then they are available from men of the past....where someone reads Spurgeon's sermons....or Martyn Lloyd-Jones recorded sermons....or live streaming from someone like John MacArthur. As for me....I am about to listen again to the sermon recommended below.
A Sermon With Noise Reduction
I came across a Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermon today that I need to share with you. If you are not familiar with this man....he was born in Wales eleven days before the 20th century began. He became a medical doctor....a member of the Royal College of Physicians....with a bright future....but according to his own testimony he became discouraged at healing men only to see them return to a life apart from Christ. So he entered the ministry....pastored in Wales for twelve years....and then went to be an associate pastor to a well-known preacher at Westminster Chapel in London....and upon the retirement of that gentleman he pastored Westminster Chapel....this being 1943.....until 1968....upon which he wrote and spoke and taught until he went to be with his Lord in March of 1981.(about a year before God had mercy upon me)
It sounds pretty cut-and-dried right? Now on to the next famous Christian preacher....but that little synopsis hides the powerful and efficacious workings of the Holy Spirit. I'm not sure how to describe the voice of Martyn Lloyd-Jones. It's comical in a way....very British....professorial maybe....and very forceful in that he is teaching you whether you want to be taught or not. That actually is the essence of the sermon that I will recommend to you. The title of it is....The Unbeliever....the skeptic at best....who is constantly asking....'where is this God of yours? I don't see him. Where is he?'Folks....in this sermon the preacher lists one way after another after another where skeptics or unbelievers challenge God.....as if saying to God....to use our modern vernacular....'bring it on!.' Lloyd-Jones response is.....don't worry....you will get your question answered.....or as he would say today.....'He will.....bring it on."
This is a powerful sermon. I could feel it as I was driving....almost as a prophet speaking in the confidence he exuded. It's one of those sermons....to me anyway....I had a pastor like this once back twenty-five years ago....he spoke in a monotone....and had a combover....and wore a robe when he preached....but his words at times took my breath away....as if so that I could hear clearer....anyway this sermon is as if some spiritual software took out all the background noise of life....and there was only the words of Martyn Lloyd-Jones....soft and determined at times....and a couple of times shouts for emphasis....but every word carrying weight....the weight of God's commands to us....loving commands but commands nonetheless....to believe....or wait for judgment.....for it is surely coming....as it always has....and always will!
Note: I'm going to listen to this again right now....Lord willing....and you can easily Google it up as.....Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermon....The Unbeliever....a Sermon on Jeremiah 17: 14-15.
Update: I did listen to this powerful sermon again....and I wound up asking God what my purpose is in these posts if not to point readers to men like Lloyd-Jones and Spurgeon and Piper and so many others. As you leave your church service tomorrow and you find yourself right back in the world....please consider incorporating sermons like this into your weekly if not daily life!
