I'll name five men here. I could easily name ten....and if given some time to use Google and jot names down....I surely could come up with a hundred names.....but five will do.
Four of these men hailed from England....three of the four from London....and one from Connecticut....a colony of England at the time. Two were Anglicans....one a Baptist.....one a Congregationalist....and one a Presbyterian. All were Calvinists.
These fives names....in chronological order according to their births were....Jonathan Edwards....1703-1758....George Whitefield....1714-1770....J. C. Ryle....1816-1900....Charles Spurgeon....1834-1892.....and Martyn Lloyd-Jones....1899-1981. MLJ was born less than six months after J. C. Ryle was called home to his Lord and Savior and King.
We hear today on FOX and Trump talk radio shows....and particularly from Trump himself....that America is the greatest country in the history of the world. Well....Israel of old was a nation to itself....and I'm sorry fellas.....but they get that number one rating. Even England gives the USA a run for the money....and they got rid of slavery long before we did....and it didn't take a civil war to do it....but this number one ranking is ridiculous. It's something that our culture has been hooked on for a long time....making number 1 lists. Let's just be thankful for God's mercy and provision for us as a nation for so long....and for at times such a wonderful sacrificing people when that sacrifice was needed!
Proverbs 27:2...."Let another person praise you....and not your own mouth....a stranger....and not your own lips." ESV
Here is my point in these five men. Whether they were Baptist or Presbyterian or Anglican or Congregationalist....the glorious gospel they preached was the same! That is point number one. Point number two is that that gospel is not quite the same gospel of that which is predominant today....consequently it produces a different preaching....similar sure....but fundamentally different as to what a sovereign and holy God demands of us.
OK....third point....we evangelicals today use the names of these men all the time....but we do not acknowledge the difference in the gospels.....because we do not know of the difference in the gospels preached. We need to find out that difference....and the only way to do that would be to either read what they wrote....or hear what they preached! You can take any one of these five men....and Google their names along with....'sermons'....and set out on a journey.....so to speak....to hear what preaching in the past was like. Most will not do this....but for those who do....it will be a blessed journey that they will not want to come back from!
