For the past year a man at Hebron has been listening to broadcasts of D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ preaching. He’s listened to more than a thousand hours of his preaching through Ephesians and Romans. He started listening because he heard me talk about Lloyd-Jones so often in my sermons. In this Corona crazed world, with lots of time on our hands, listening to Dr. Lloyd-Jones could prove to be not only interesting, but transformative.
In 1981, a preaching legend, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, died at age 82. For thirty years he preached at London’s Westminster Chapel three times a week: Friday night, Sunday morning, and Sunday night. The day he was officially welcomed to his position as Associate Pastor at Westminster Chapel, working alongside another legend, G. Campbell Morgan, was the same day World War II broke out in Europe. He served with Morgan for five years, until Morgan’s retirement in 1943.
In July 1959 Martyn Lloyd-Jones and his wife, Bethan, were on vacation in Wales, his country of origin. While they were there they attended a little chapel on Sunday morning for worship. When they arrived, they were so warmly greeted that Lloyd-Jones asked if they’d like him to “give the word” that morning.
The people hesitated, knowing that he and Bethan were on vacation, and not wanting to presume upon his energies. Sensing their hesitation, Bethan said, “Let him preach, for preaching is his life.”
It was true. In his preface to his book, Preaching and Preachers, Lloyd-Jones says, “Preaching is my life's work. To me, the work of preaching is the highest, and greatest, and most glorious calling to which anyone can ever be called.” (And that’s saying a lot since before his call to ordained ministry, he was a medical doctor and member of the Royal College of Physicians.)
And yet, it is most instructive to pay close attention to what Dr. Lloyd-Jones said near the end of his “preaching career”. He stated with no equivocation, “I can honestly say that I would not cross the road to listen to myself preach.” Now why would he utter such a disclaimer, especially in light of the fact that there are myriad preachers of every age who would say the opposite when it comes to their own preaching?
The answer is obvious to anyone who’s truly called to deliver God’s Word. Zechariah knew it. In chapter four, verse 6, the prophet repeats what the angel of the Lord had declared to him, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.” In other words, true, godly preaching is the work of the Holy Spirit. The preacher is simply the mouthpiece. This is exactly the truth Jesus underscores in John 16 when He tells His disciples that He is sending them the Helper to guide them into all truth. The greatest truth is, “I must decrease (even die to myself) and He must increase.”
In 1945 when Dr. J.I. Packer was a student in London, he used to go hear Lloyd-Jones preach every Sunday night for two years. He says, “I never heard such preaching! It came with the force of electric shock bringing to me a sense of God more than any other man.”
Do you know who would be most surprised to hear that? D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, that’s who!
