The Martyn Lloyd-Jones Recordings Trust have made available another free sermon on their website. It is the one recording that they have of MLJ preaching from the Book of Judges – a sermon titled ‘A Right View of Life’.

Click to listen to or download ‘A Right View of Life’

Also check out a previous guest post by Robin Lane from the D. M. Lloyd-Jones Recordings Trust.

Spurgeon spent a whole sermon arguing for the desperate need of the preacher to be annointed of the Holy Spirit in order that souls may be saved. We would do well to listen and be inspired to cry out to God for greater fullness of the Spirit on our leaders:

There is a necessity that the preacher himself, if we are to have souls saved, should be under the influence of the Spirit. I have constantly made it my prayer that I might be guided by the Spirit even in the smallest and least important parts of the service; for you cannot tell but that the salvation of a soul may depend upon the reading of a hymn, or upon the selection of a chapter. Two persons have joined our church and made a profession of being converted simply through my reading a hymn —
“Jesus, lover of my soul”

They did not remember anything else in the hymn, but those words made such a deep impression upon their mind, that they could not help repeating them for days afterwards, and then the thought arose, “Do I love Jesus?” And then they considered what strange ingratitude it was that he should be the lover of their souls, and yet they should not love him. Now I believe the Holy Spirit led me to read that hymn. And many persons have been converted by some striking saying of the preacher. But why was it the preacher uttered that saying? Simply because he was led thereunto by the Holy Spirit. Rest assured, beloved, that when any part of the sermon is blessed to your heart, the minister said it because he was ordered to say it by his Master. I might preach to-day a sermon which I preached on Friday, and which was useful then, and there might be no good whatever come from it now, because it might not be the sermon which the Holy Ghost would have delivered to-day. But if with sincerity of heart I have sought God’s guidance in selecting the topic, and he rests upon me in the preaching of the Word, there is no fear but that it shall be found adapted to your immediate wants. The Holy Spirit must rest upon your preachers. Let them have all the learning of the wisest men, and all the eloquence of such men as Desmosthenes and Cicero, still the Word cannot be blessed to you, unless first of all the Spirit of God hath guided the minister’s mind in the selection of his subject, and in the discussion of it . . .

When Jesus Christ preached, there were very few converted under him, and the reason was, because the Holy Spirit was not abundantly poured forth. He had the Holy Spirit without measure himself, but on others the Holy Spirit was not as yet poured out. Jesus Christ said, “Greater works than these shall ye do because I go to my Father, in order to send the Holy Spirit;” and recollect that those few who were converted under Christ’s ministry, were not converted by him, but by the Holy Spirit that rested upon him at that time. Jesus of Nazareth was anointed of the Holy Spirit. Now then, if Jesus Christ, the great founder of our religion, needed to be anointed of the Holy Spirit, how much more our ministers?

Charles H. Spurgeon, Sermon No 201

In this segment of Terry Virgo’s video series he is asked, How long does it take him to take to prepare a sermon? His answer is illuminating and strangely encouraging given that he is such a well known and well respected preacher. It is worth watching the whole video:

“The time it takes to prepare can so vary with the theme. Sometimes you can be living with the theme weeks before you preach it . . . Other times in the week run up to the preach I haven’t got a clue what I am going to do. Im looking at a blank sheet and thinking “O God, is there anything interesting at al in the Bible?” Its a real challenge, week in week out, especially if you are preaching to the same congregation, and if you are not preaching a series.”

In this installment of Terry’s video series, his son asks him which preachers have influenced him and that he listens to. His answers (with reasons) were as follows:

• His first Baptist pastor
• Lloyd-Jones “a man obviously of the word, but also a man of the Spirit.”
• Mark Driscolll “I am fascinated by his mind. He has so much background information and he has a huge passion”
• Tim Keller “An extraordinary preacher, not a word is wasted.”
• John Piper “I have enjoyed enormously listening to him to preach.”
• Don Carson “The man’s breadth I find so stirring”
• David Pawson “Always had fascinating insights, so interesting to listen to”
• C. J. Mahaney “One of the best expository preachers I know. He is just magnificent”

In a fascinating aside he said, “You could almost settle for church for great preaching. But there is so much more to church.”  If you want to know what stirs Terry Virgo about the church, keep watching!

Terry Virgo was asked in the following video “How can a preacher improve?” I will share a few highlights from this video then embed the video itself. If you haven’t been following this excellent series, I commend them to you.

“One of the best ways to learn preaching is to listening to a good preacher”

“In my praying before I preach, I am asking God “lord please let people feel that their Father in heaven is speaking to them”

“You have got to be true to the Bible…you want to be clear…you need to have some shape, some drama, calling for a decision, for a response. . . I write on my notes “apply” I think i am not very good at application, I can love setting out truth, but I am often challenged and inspired by preachers who are aggressive with their application. . . it has got to come from exposition first, it’s not all exhortation.”

“What you are looking for is response that is rooted in truth”

“preaching is an event, and at the moment of impact is when something can happen.”

“The way that peapope get changed through preaching is engagement, God has spoken, it can change my life”

“It is by no means merely explaining verses. We are looking for the help of the Spirit”

Appropriately enough given what we were speaking about yesterday, this month an important new book was released by Crossway. Entrusted with the Gospel is based on expositions of 2 Timothy and has a broad range of contributors. Here is what I said about it, I encourage you to go buy a copy and read it! Here is what I said about it:

“Piper, Ryken, Driscoll, Copeland, Chapell, and Duncan are very different people, but they are all proven champions of the unchanging gospel of Jesus. This book will help all Christians study to be faithful to the task we have been entrusted with to spread that same message. Paul’s advice to his young apprentice Timothy is ably explained in these pages. Do your family, friends, and fellow church members a favor—read this book and apply it.”
—Adrian Warnock, author, Raised With Christ: How the Resurrection Changes Everything

I am really enjoying this series of videos from Terry Virgo, I encourage you to subscribe to his blog if you haven’t already. In this one, he begins to speak about his very high view of Scripture and preaching. It is prompted by the second of a series of values that have governed his work with churches over the past decades. These values are expressed in the form of the kind of church he is looking to build:

‘A church where regular teaching and preaching of the Bible holds a primary role and where Scripture’s authority is final.’

This value and video reminded me that a while ago I did quite a long series of blog posts on preaching. We can never hear enough about valuing God’s word. Here is an extract of the video to whet your appetite:

“It is important that we are submitting our lives to what God has said. All that we are is a response to what God has said. . The Bible starts with God said, God spoke and then light comes and life comes. The church is God’s creation, and that comes to birth through his word. We can’t improve on hearing the word of God. We live in an day when people want to play down the importance of preaching . . .but the reality of the preached word in the power of the Holy Spirit has a unique skill to penetrate people’s hearts. . . The authority of the Spirit on the preached word makes it relevant whatever the day in which it is begin done. . .The early church devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching. Paul says I taught you day and night, publicly and from house church to house church. He was always preaching. He preached so long that a guy fell out of the window. When he raised him from the dead he preached on till morning. . . You need to know truth in order to be free, and in order to know what is the church of God. . . we adjust ourselves to what the word of God says. Preaching is not just telling the story it should be with powerful impact so that good preaching brings people to decisions, choices, Its an event, its a moment, when you hear good preaching your life is affected you make changes. PReaching shouldn’t be dull it should be relevant, it should be full of truth, it should have application so that I know what I have to do in view of these things.”

Today we turn to Jonathan Edwards, that master of discussing Christian experince and his concept of the affections.  We would be wrong to assume that affections are simply the emotions as the following quote makes clear.  Although this idea does include emotions, it relates to the entire inclination of our heart and wills. When thinking about our affections, we have to ask “what draws our heart’s attention?”

Jonathan Edwards’s Treatise Concerning the Religious Affections (1746) has provided the best explanation of what must take place within the preacher. By “affections” Edwards meant one’s heart, one’s inclinations, and one’s will. As Edwards said, “true religion consists in a great measure in vigorous and lively actings and the inclination and will of the soul, or the fervent exercises of the heart.” Edwards demonstrates from a cascade of Scriptures that real Christianity so impacts the affections that it shapes one’s fears, hopes, loves, hatreds, desires, joys, sorrows, gratitudes, compassions, and zeals.

This is what should routinely happen to the preacher: the message should work its way through his whole intellectual and moral being as he prepares for and practices the proclamation of God’s Word. When the message has affected him deeply, then he is ready to preach. Sermon preparation is twenty hours of prayer. It is humble, holy, critical thinking. It is repeatedly asking the Holy Spirit for insight. It is the word penetrating into the depths of the preacher’s own soul. It is ongoing repentance. It is utter dependence. It is a singing heart.

Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2575.

This post will explain why I am so keen to invite you to join us to hear John Piper live on 26th and/or 27th June, especially if you are already a leader or are thinking that God might be calling you to some leadership role in the church. The reason is very simple:  A single phrase anointed by the Holy Spirit might transform your life, and hence the life of the church you are in.  Tickets are disappearing fast, so book now!  The following is an excerpt from a John Piper sermon:

I have often heard the contrast made between spending one hour a week in Sunday School and twenty or more hours a week watching TV. The point is usually that we can scarcely counteract the secularist influence of twenty hours of TV with one hour of Sunday School. This sort of observation creates what you might call a “quantitative hopelessness.” It gives the impression that life-changing impact is directly proportionate to the quantity of time spent with a particular influence.

Our Problem with Evil

I think this way of assessing the value of influences (whether TV or Sunday School) is wrong for two reasons. Thinking quantitatively like this obscures the problem with evil, and obscures the power of a holy moment. First, it obscures the problem of evil. It gives the misleading impression that the approach to take toward harmful influences on TV is to balance them with good influences at church or at home . . .

The Power of a Holy Moment

The second reason it is wrong to assess the influence of Sunday School quantitatively is that this obscures the power of a holy moment. What I have in mind here is something tremendously encouraging to teachers. It is what I would call the “immeasurable moment.” What the quantitative approach overlooks and obscures is the lasting, transforming power of insight which can and usually does happen in a moment . . .

In Reading

What I have learned from about twenty-years of serious reading is this. It is sentences that change my life, not books. What changes my life is some new glimpse of truth, some powerful challenge, some resolution to a long-standing dilemma, and these usually come concentrated in a sentence or two. I do not remember 99% of what I read, but if the 1% of each book or article I do remember is a life-changing insight, then I don’t begrudge the 99%. And that life-changing insight usually comes in a moment, a moment whose value is all out of proportion to its little size. That’s why I call it an “immeasurable moment.”

Here are some of the examples of the 1% that have gripped me and changed me.

From Jonathan Edwards, his sixth life resolution written in college: “Resolved: To live with all my might while I do live.” From his book Religious Affections: “True Religion, in great part, consists in holy affections.”

From St. Paul a sentence hit me when I was about twenty-two that has shaped my theology ever since, “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to do his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12f.).

From C.S. Lewis in his sermon, The Weight of Glory: “If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong but too weak. We are halfhearted creatures fooling about with drink and sex and ambition, when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mudpies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

From St. Augustine’s Confessions, “I have not hope at all but in thy great mercy. Grant what thou commandest and command what thou wilt.” Also from his Confessions: “For he loves Thee too little who loves anything together with Thee, which he loves not for Thy sake.”

The list could go on but the point is this: In reading, more often than not, what grips you and gives you a new view of the world and changes you is not whole books but key sentences or paragraphs. You read them, the lights go on, the heart is strangely warmed, and you experience an “immeasurable moment.” Such a moment can be more influential than months of TV and radio. So do not fall victim to “quantitative hopelessness.”

In Counseling

. . .Whether the session is short or long, it is often the “immeasurable moment” that makes the difference. Many times students have returned to me years later and said, “Do you remember what you said to me?” I say, “No,” and they recite one sentence. Just one sentence. It may have determined their vocational choice or their choice of graduate schools. It may have caused them to break an engagement, or give up a habit. Usually I don’t even recall saying what they remember. The point is this: There is no way to measure what power a word spoken in a single moment can have. It is an “immeasurable moment.”

. . . All this is meant for our encouragement. Do not think that your thirty-minute lesson on Sunday morning is nothing in relation to twenty hours of TV. Prepare with all your heart, as if the truth you teach is astonishing and revolutionary. Pray with all your heart for those you teach and for yourself. And you will create—perhaps unbeknown to you—you will create “immeasurable moments” for your students. Never underestimate the power of truth spoken in a single sentence.

Copyright Desiring God.  From Quantitative Hopelessness and the Immeasurable Moment :: Desiring God Christian Resource Library.

Mark Driscoll shares the following 6 Preaching & Teaching Tips for Easter | TheResurgence. He urges Christians to bring their friends to church this weekend.  In the full article he makes a point which should be obvious: this Sunday you MUST speak about the resurrection.  Strangely, I have even heard reports in the past of Easter sermons which focused on the cross and neglected  the resurrection. Please don’t do that next Sunday!

Easter is a special time for me for all the reasons I mentioned over the weekend, but also because in the weeks before Easter 2007, while I was in the center of major arguments which were raging online about the meaning of the cross, I felt the gentle tug of the Holy Spirit to begin to study the resurrection.  Raised With Christ is the direct result of my being convicted of my own personal neglect of the resurrection while preparing to preach that Easter Sunday.  May God bring the resurrection to the center of all our minds this Easter. Driscoll says:

Easter is a time to boldly, loudly, passionately, gladly, and publicly proclaim the resurrection of Jesus Christ . . . Hearing the good news of Jesus is something your people will delight in if the Holy Spirit resides in them, so make it plain. They know you will tell them Jesus is alive, they are coming to hear it, and it sounds good every time, much like a wife whose husband often tells her he loves her and is devoted to her—she never tires of hearing it and rejoices every time.

Driscoll lists a number of passages which are suitable for preaching about the resurrection and recommends that if you are a preacher, as well as taking some time out to be with Jesus personally this week, you should read a good Christian book on the good news to help you prepare your own heart. There are, of course, a few books around about the resurrection at the moment, and Amazon does next day delivery. The reason for this is that we must be mastered by this message if we are to proclaim it as we should.  As Driscoll puts it:

I like to think of those people who have shed tears over sin they have committed and sins that have been committed against them and picture Jesus wiping every tear from their eye on the other side of resurrection as Scripture promises. I like to think of those people I know who are disabled one day being free to run and leap for joy on the other side of the resurrection. And I remember the deceased whom I love and I look forward to seeing them again on the day when we rise together to walk into the kingdom that never ends.

Here are Driscoll’s six tips for preaching on Easter Sunday which he more fully explains in his article:

1. Keep your Easter message short.
2. Keep your Easter message simple.
3. Keep your Easter message invitational.
4. Keep your Easter message special.
5. Keep your Easter message personal.
6. Keep your Easter message biblical.

Driscoll also encourages churches that it is a great idea to “baptize people to show the personal application of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ in our place for our sins. At Mars Hill, we baptize more people on Easter than any other time of the year. . .The celebration of changed lives erupts into something of a sanctified resurrection party. I would encourage every pastor to do something similar.”

At Jubilee Church, London we will also be baptizing people this Sunday.. If you attend our church, there is a baptism class this evening at 7:30 PM in the Premier Bar for anyone wanting to add their name to the list of those being baptized.  I close this post by sharing an outstanding sermon about believer’s baptism and the breakthrough it can bring in our spiritual lives.  Dave Pask preached this message yesterday at Jubilee:

download video or download audio

The Evangelical Ministry Assembly 2010 will focus on the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the preacher, with John Piper as the headline speaker and Terry Virgo also involved.

Those of you who know British Church life, and particularly the history of the last few decades, will be amazed at this. To be clear, the leadership team behind the Proclamation Trust have not suddenly all become card-carrying tongues-speaking charismatics. Rather, as I read the information about this exciting conference, I think two things are behind what may seem like a digression from their previous event subjects.

Firstly, there is clearly a recognition of something I often bang on about here on the blog: that the experiential work of the Spirit is not something unique to the charismatics! Previous generations of Christians were very clear that they had a relationship with the living Jesus (something I explore fully in Raised With Christ).  Thus, no matter what your opinion on the gifts is, the Spirit should have a tangible effect in the life of every believer, and certainly in the life of the preacher.  This conference aims to explore more about what that place should be.

Secondly, there is no doubt that recent controversies within the broader evangelical tent have made people on both sides of the so-called “charismatic divide” realize that we have more in common with each other than we previously realized.  The line between the reformed and the reformed charismatic movements is less distinct now than ever before.

John Piper seems more comfortable than almost anyone else in bridging this so-called divide.  His response to a question about the Holy Spirit in the recent Desiring God Conference demonstrated just how comfortable he is. I suspect that he is relishing the prospect of this forthcoming conference.

An interesting feature of this conference will be that there is no attempt to sweep the real differences that remain under the carpet.  If we can truly understand what each of us thinks about these things, our respect will only increase. So, what they describe as a “public and honest conversation about the work of the Holy Spirit” will happen with a goal of learning “how to discuss secondary matters over which we do not always agree, always with a view to thinking through how our theology impacts church life.”

When? 23-25 June 2010, between 10.30 AM and 4.30 PM each day.

Venue? St. Helen’s Bishopsgate, London – in the heart of the square mile of the City of London, just a few minutes walk from Liverpool Street Station.

Cost? The assembly costs £30 per day to attend.

Full speaker list
* Christopher Ash
* Rupert Bentley-Taylor
* John Piper
* Vaughan Roberts

With
* John Coles
* Liam Goligher
* Wayne Grudem
* Marcus Honeysett
* Wanyeki Mahiaini
* Tim McMahon
* Mike Reeves
* Terry Virgo

More information at EMA 2010 » The Details.

Unfortunately, I have run out of annual leave to take this year, so will not be able to attend the event, but I may be able to make it to an extra session being run on Thursday 24th at 5:30 PM with Wayne Grudem talking about how Christians should speak out on moral issues.

Lloyd-Jones makes a great point in the quote below. The only thing I would add is that many people today think that simple preaching of doctrine will automatically lead to a transformed life. Lloyd-Jones is right when he says we must be taught to think. We need practical guidance to help us apply the wondrous truths of the gospel, or we will remain stunted and immature Christians. Where is the preaching that will help us live as Christians?

Nothing happens automatically in the Christian life. That is a very profound principle, for I believe that most of our troubles arise from the fact that we tend to assume that they do happen automatically. We persist in holding on to a semi-magical notion of regeneration which teaches that, because of what has happened to us, the rest of the story is, quite simply, ‘they all lived happily ever after’. But of course we know that that is not true . . .Obviously the antidote to that is to think, to have an understanding, to reason the thing out thoroughly. The world does not do that. The trouble with the world, ultimately, according to the teaching of the Bible, is that it does not think. If only people thought, most of their problems would be solved . . .

The fallacy of the humanist is, of course, that he believes that all you have to do therefore is to tell people to think. But as long as they are sinners they will not think. These elemental forces are so much stronger than the rational forces that ‘man in sin’ is always irrational.

When we become Christians we still need to enforce this self-same principle. Even the Christian does not think automatically; he has to be taught to think—hence these New Testament epistles. Why were they ever written? If a man who becomes a Christian automatically does the right thing, why did the Apostle ever have to write these epistles? Or if you can receive your sanctification as one act, one blessing, why were these epistles ever written? Here they are, full of reason, full of argument, full of demonstrations, full of analogies and comparisons. Why? In order to teach us how to think, in order to teach us how to work these things out, and how to gain understanding.

David Martyn. Lloyd-Jones, Life in the Spirit in Marriage, Home & Work : An Exposition of Ephesians 5:18 to 6:9 (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1974, c1973), 209.

Usually when I attend a conference, I sit through the sessions typing furiously trying to capture as much of what God is saying to us through his Word as I possibly can. This is not an easy task, but it is one I enjoy. It is something I am sure I will do many times over the next few years, as I have no intention of stopping.

However, preaching is not about making the process of transferring information from the speaker’s notes to the hearers’ notes as efficient as possible. We are meant to be impacted by the Word in the very core of our being, and allow our hearts and minds to be shaped by it. This is a holy moment. It is an activity of the Holy Spirit. It is something that does not happen to the same extent every time someone opens their mouth to preach. It seems to require the appropriate preparation of both the preacher and the hearers, not just the best preparation of his sermon notes. Over the years I have listened to many sermons that must have taken multiple hours to prepare yet had little effect on my heart. No doubt most of the time that was my fault rather than the preacher’s. But there have been times when I have not been well prepared to sit under God’s Word and yet a particularly anointed preacher arrested me and lovingly pummeled me with the Bible, leaving me forever transformed. I can point to messages I have heard more than a decade ago that are still having fruit in my life today.

So, in preparing for the Desiring God Pastors Conference that commences later today, I have felt led to on this occasion to lay aside my laptop.  This is to make it easier for me to  open my heart more fully to my Lord Jesus.  I long for him to lovingly confront me at a deep emotional level by his Spirit operating through speakers who are surely among some of the most anointed alive today.

Desiring God is very generous with, where possible, sharing notes of the sessions and both video and audio online. This made my decision to approach this event differently from a blogging perspective easier. As a result, here is my plan. I will not write notes during the sessions. But that does not mean I will not be blogging this event. Each evening I will write what will effectively be a public journal. I will document the effects the day as a whole has had on me, and the way I want to live differently as a result. I will actually share some things that stand out for me from the talks, but even more than usual, these will be described through the lens of my own encounter with God through his Word. Thus, for me a single throw away comment in the middle of a talk might be THE thing that spoke to me most. Don’t therefore look to me this week for an accurate summary of the main points of all the talks. Instead, feel free to join me as I chronicle the work of God on an individual’s heart. Please pray for me that God will shape me well through his word this week. It would be very embarrassing indeed to have to report that my mind had been wandering and I learned nothing!

To give you a taste of what is to come, I will begin this conference journal by reflecting on this weekend. I have had an incredible time. Memorable highlights for me begin with my delight in sharing prolonged times with my pastor, Tope Koleoso. His wisdom, kindness, and constant desire for me to be the best that I can be for Jesus is the chief means that God uses to keep me on track with him. His faith is inspiring to me. Flight time, restaurant time, and sharing a room in the hotel, has been precious. I want to follow this man as he follows Jesus for a very long time to come. His devotion to and dependence on Jesus, as well as his commitment to prayer,  is a constant provocation to me.  May God make me to be more of a man of prayer.

Yesterday we attended several meetings at Bethlehem Baptist Church. From the moment I walked into their building, and throughout every meeting we were at, I was struck by the clear sweet sense of the presence of the same Holy Spirit we enjoy back at home. We encountered God in every meeting. How appropriate it was then that God chose today to be the day they described a church plant called Jubilee Community Church to their congregation. Coming as we do from a church called Jubilee, we felt right at home!

John Piper’s sermon, and the talk by their new church plant’s leader, also resonated with me.  Their passion to serve the poor, but to do that while also sharing the gospel with them, is something that has been very much on our hearts back home.

As the planter pointed out so helpfully, the Spirit is on us in order that we can bring liberation to those who are poor.  In particular, Piper made the point that Jesus who is glorified and all powerful has promised that HE that will build his church.  A theme which seemed to underlie the day for me was the way they clearly felt needing to be good stewards of the remarkable outpouring of grace that their church has experienced.  Not every church is as blessed as Bethlehem.

It was a delight also to renew our friendship with some dear friends – David Livingstone and his wife Karin (as well as meeting one of their daughters).  They had previously visited us in London, but we turned up unannounced on Sunday morning at the Bethlehem campus David is the pastor of. We spent some precious time with them, and found in them such real kindred spirits. To visit a church for just a day and yet feel you are among dear brothers and sisters is something very special. It is a rare thing, but one in which I delight.

We also walked through the Mall of America, apparently we passed around 90% of the shops there, which is no small feat! I ended the weekend full of thankfulness to God for his abundant grace towards us. I was glad to hear that, as my wife put it, church back at home was “great” and when iChatting for just a few moments with the family back home, it was good to see that they all seemed to be happy and enjoying themselves without me!

This clip is vintage Matt Chandler, and makes me wish he put his regular sermons online in video form. It is also a passionate explanation of the gospel and what is wrong with many churches:

My pastor Tope Koleoso now has a Twitter page which has some fantastic things on it, including some quotes about preaching from my Liam Goligher interview.

Interview With Liam Goligher from Adrian Warnock on Vimeo.

One of my favorite memories from this year’s New Word Alive is meeting Liam Goligher. If you only want to watch one video from the event, watch this one. I am thrilled that this is the post I am sharing with you on my sixth blog anniversary (it was the 16th April 2003 when this journey began!)

Liam and I have spoken on the phone before, and from the first call I immediately knew that he was a real defender of the gospel. I heard him preach at NWA, and I was blown away. He has the full package: a thoughtful intelligent approach to the text, relevance, humor with biting illustrations, passion, and a big dose of that hard to measure thing called “anointing.” His preaching brought the tangible presence of God and conviction. To be honest, and this is not an exaggeration, I think he is something of a British John Piper.

But it was only in meeting him face-to-face that I realized how much fun he is. We laughed a lot, as well as speaking about many important subjects. This included the need for preachers to let their sermon grip them personally and to pray for the work of the Holy Spirit, which must empower preaching. We also spoke about aspects of the gospel which are under attack and must be vigorously defended.

Liam also spoke about the need to remember to emphasize important aspects like the resurrection, which might not be under attack in the same way. We spoke about my book, and at one point he ribbed me mercilessly, but then was very kind about his own reaction to reading it.

Liam Goligher is the senior pastor of Duke Street Church, Richmond London, which is growing rapidly and currently has around 600 people who attend on a Sunday. Liam is on the committee which organizes New Word Alive, as well as being a regular conference speaker at other events. His preaching is available to listen to free online or to purchase on CD. He is currently preaching on Isaiah in the mornings and Revelation in the evenings.

May God grant us a revival of the kind of Christianity the Doctor is talking about here:

“It is one thing to believe the truth, it is a very different thing to apply it. We did listen, and apply the truth, initially, otherwise we would not be Christians at all. But it is possible for us … to go on, content with just listening to, or reading the truth, and never applying it to ourselves, or examining ourselves in the light of it. Is this not one of the most alarming possibilities in the Christian life?

… read the life of any man who has ever been used of God … in connection with revival, and you will always find that he was a man who had examined himself, and had become alarmed about himself. It has always been the thing that has led him to God and to prayer — his astonishment at himself. But if we do not examine ourselves we will never truly pray, and our lives will be lived entirely on the surface. Now, how little we hear about self-examination! Oh, we believe in having a quiet time, a short reading of Scripture, a hurried prayer, and we have done everything. But where is self-examination? How much talk is there about mortification of the flesh? (Colossians 3:5, Romans 8:13)

… allow the truth to search you … apply it to yourself … preach to yourself … talk to yourself … meditate about these things … bring yourself under conviction …[do] not let yourself escape. But …do not stop at that … allow the Scriptures to lead you to the Lord Jesus Christ, and to the cleansing of His blood. In other words, any Christian who is depressed and morbid and introspective is really failing to apply the doctrine of justification by faith only. If you stop in your sins, if you stop in the dust and the ashes and in the sackcloth, I say, you are not scriptural. You must go on from that and look to Him, and apply again the truth to yourself. You must be certain that you end in a condition of thanksgiving and praise, with a realisation that your sins are covered and blotted out, and that you are renewed, and that you are able to go forward.”

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Revival (Westchester, Illinois, Crossway Books, 1987), pp. 80-83.

Video of this talk is now available to watch here:

Tim Keller – Preaching the Gospel from Newfrontiers on Vimeo.

Earlier in the week, Tim Keller spoke at a Newfrontiers event. He gave three posts, and I was there taking notes. There were over 800 people there to hear him. As usual these notes are colored a bit by my own perceptions, and so do not necessarily reflect exactly what he said.

 This talk was very inspiring. Regular readers of my blog will know I often blog about preaching so it is no surprise that I found the talk fascinating.

Perhaps because he was standing just beneath where the Doctor actually preached, he appropriately started by talking about Lloyd-Jones. He told us thaat The Doctor had said it was the fact that no one personality type became a christian that led him to believe. Tim made the point that he himself is really different than Mark Driscoll and they are both different from Terry. There is not one kind of person that evangelical Christianity always appeals to. Keller confessed to being a a cynical person, and said that there are not too many charismatic cynics!

He explained that he was not wanting to build a new foundation for us in our consideration of preaching, just to tweak us with four principles:

1. Preaching must be gospel centered

Tim explained that he had reservations about the popular way we tell the gospel as “two ways to live”. He argued that in Western culture we must make sure people know there are in fact three ways to live.

“God’s way” vs “Mans Way” is commonly what we say. But it is more clarifying to show people that we can live in either morality, immorality or the gospel. Or put another way, we can live in religion, irreligion or by grace. He drew this out of the story of the Prodigal son. One son was clearly alienated. The other is compliant and obedient trying to please his father but they were both alienated from the father. Both are lost. You can be lost by obeying God as well as by disobeying God.

We try to be our own savior and lord by running off and doing our own thing or by coming to church and praying, and studying the Bible. If you do that believing that God is now going to have to save you and answer your prayers because of how good you are then Jesus is an example, helper, model but he is not your savior. If you are trying to be your own savior and lord you will say “How dare you let bad things happen to me”. If you simply say “come to Jesus and follow him” you are inviting people to become the elder brother.

Tim explained that Romans 1 is about pagans and sex, drugs and rock and roll. But Romans 2 is turned on the people passing judgment on them all. Chapter 1 is the younger brother, 2-3 are the older brother. In the sermon on the mount Jesus says “there are two ways to live” – house on rock or on sand. In the sermon it’s people who pray and people who think they will be heard for their many words who are on the sand. It’s people who give for reward vs. those who do it for no reward. In the sermon the two ways are the “good life” and the way of the gospel. i.e. the sermon is against legalism and religion. I obey therefore I am accepted vs. I am accepted because of the work of Jesus on the cross wholly and completely by grace and so I obey out of that.

Religion brings fear – I have to do this or God will get me. Gospel brings gratitude. There is poise to a gospel person who suffers. If you are religious and suffer then you will be angry at God since you think you have “earnt” his blessing. The gopsel tells us “I am more wicked than I ever dared imagine but I am also more loved than I ever could have imagined.” This brings a bold humility. A religious person is always either smug or despondent.

Some people fear that preaching against legalism won’t help the younger brother. Unless the secular person hears you deconstructing legalism they won’t understand the difference. There is a gracious way to live that doesn’t turn you into a Pharisee. This has to be in everything you preach.

2. Preaching must be Christ centered

In order to be gospel centered no matter what the text is about you have to bring people to Jesus. If we are just preaching about how to live your life we are preaching synagogue sermons. We must show people the way to Jesus’ salvation. Our default mode is to go back to self-justification.

Tim then joked, “I’m a Presbyterian so I don’t hear God as often as you do”! But went on to tell us how years ago he was reading Romans 1:16 and suddenly a thought came: “He who through preaching is righteous will die a thousand deaths every Saturday night” Tim said “even Presbyterians know where that came from!”

He then explained that we have to bang the gospel into peoples heads continually as Luther said. We must get to Jesus. There is a tendency to think that you give them great information and then they are going to go out into the world and use what you taught them to change their life. BUT instead, he believes sermons should be:

3. Life changing on the spot

Its there in their seats that they will be changed. When Jesus came back from the dead and did a biblical seminar, we are told in Luke 24 that he showed them they didn’t know how to read the scripture because the bible is all about him. The theme of covenant, Kingdom, exile, all those themes find their climax in Jesus. E.g. Jesus was exiled for us. When Paul says give, he says “because of what Jesus did for us”. His generosity is where our wealth and security is.

I have to see Jesus to change me. When you see Jesus in a new way or sense his salvation this will change you on the spot.

4. Culturally transforming

Christians don’t do a good job of this. People who are not believers who hear you need to be persuaded. We say to unbelievers “you’re wrong”. We believe this and that, you in the world don’t, we are right and you are nowhere near right now, let us pray! We are negative and combative and blunt. There is another way to go.

Every culture has some things they hate. In the Middle east they love what the gospel says about sex and hate what it says about forgiveness. Here in London, they hate what we say about sex and love what we says about forgiveness and reconciliation. Some doctrines are found appealing (called “a”), others are seen as offensive (called “b”). If you want to preach “b” doctrines that are disarming, you have to float them on a boat of “a” doctrines. We must preach to win people. A lot of people hate the idea of God as judge and punisher.

Keller cited a Croat theologian who would say something like “Many think of you believe that belief in a God of vengeance and wrath leads to violence. This shows you have never suffered yourself. If you had seen your village ravaged and friends and relatives raped, and males murdered, then if you don’t believe in a God who is going to put all things right the only alternative is to pick up the sword yourself and smite the people that did that. The only way to live in peace with enemies is to know that God will be just. If you don’t understand that you have lived a very sheltered life.”

Here peacemaking is the “a” doctrine that he floated the “b” doctrine of judgement and justice on.

Tim gave another example of a missionary in Korea who found that when she spoke of sovereignty and predestination in that culture that it was easily acceptable and enabled her to build a bridge to grace which on its own was incomprehensible. Tell them that aspects of what they believe is good and right, but then win them and lead them to Christ.

In personal relationships he said we should have a strong bias towards listening. Say “I really need to know what your biggest problems with Christianity are.” You have to be in heavy listening mode till they say “you are articulating my objections better than I can!” When you have connected with their disagreement then you can begin to answer it. They need to be saying “You really do understand where I am coming from…”

He gave an example of how to float predestination to a Christian. “Why are you a Christian and your friend isn’t” “because I repented” “why?” then eventually, “Are you saying there is something better about you?” If not, then you believe in predestination…. GRACE requires predestination. In the west, grace is the front door. Don’t bring them in the back door!

Keller then alluded to a section on preaching from Jonathan Edwards “Thoughts on Revival”. He said that preaching is about bringing Christ to bear on the heart. In the sermon there is an act of worship. God takes the word of the preacher and gives a person a vision of Jesus that shapes the heart on the spot. We are looking for a divine supernatural light. You can know honey is sweet without tasting it. But we need the sense of the sweetness – give them a taste of Jesus and you will see them change on the spot. I have not been able to identify that quote, despite the wonderful http://edwards.yale.edu If YOU can help us, send me an email.

UPDATE- Dave Bish responded in less than an hour, and said that the honey quote can be found online. In fact Edwards said something similar about honey many times, so it would seem there was another place where it is more related to preaching during revivals.

UPDATE – Joe Rigney has posted some more information about this piece on Edwards.

Keller also mentioned that the Doctor made a comment on that Edwards sermon and as a result he was ambivalent about people taking notes. He asks if it is just information or an act of worship? We should be seeing Jesus. I couldn’t find the Doctor’s quote either but this one has a similar sentiment:

The life of Christ is in us! It is not theory, it is a life-giving teaching, it is a life-imparting teaching. If I am preaching in the Spirit, as I pray God I am, I am not only uttering words to you, I am imparting life to you, I am being used of God as the channel of the Spirit and my words bring life and not merely knowledge. Do you accept that distinction? I am almost afraid sometimes for those of you who take notes, that you may just be getting the words and not the Spirit. I am not saying that you should not take notes, but I do warn you to be careful. Much more important than the words is the Spirit, the life; in Christ we are being taught, and built up in Him. So that in a sense, though you may forget the words, you will have received the life, and you go out aware of the life of God, as it were, pulsating within you. David Martyn. Lloyd-Jones, Christian Unity (Studies in Ephesians, Chapter 4, Verses 1 Through 16) (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1972), 114.

UPDATE I then got another email from the Bish telling me that I had already linked twice to the Edwards quote in question (!) I should clearly have searched my own site…Anyway, here it is with a URL you can visit:

“The first and primary object of preaching is not only to give information. It is, as Edwards says, to produce an impression. It is the impression at the time that matters, even more than what you can remember subsequently. In this respect Edwards is, in a sense, critical of what was a prominent Puritan custom and practice. The Puritan father would catechize and question the children as to what the preacher had said. Edwards, in my opinion, has the true notion of preaching. It is not primarily to impart information; and while you are writing your notes you may be missing something of the impact of the Spirit. As preachers we must not forget this. We are not merely imparters of information” Jonathan Edwards and the Crucial Importance of Revival by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.

Keller recommended a couple of books – Christ Centered Peaching by Brian Chapel, and Graham Goldsworthy Preaching the Whole Bible.

He also suggested his own Christianity Today article on the gospel in all its forms

This post represents the last of my republished series on preaching, and first appeared on my blog back in March 2007. I  still will be only blogging monday-wednesday-friday the next few weeks as my book deadline approaches.  I appreciate your prayers.  Here are 10 conclusions about preaching:

1. Expository preaching should be defined as preaching that seeks to explain the main point of the portion of the Scripture selected.

2. Expository preaching does not always have to take place as part of a long series working slowly through a book. Series can be helpful, but they need not last a decade. One-off sermons on specific verses, a chapter, or even a whole book can also be expository.

3. We must not have an overly-narrow definition of expository preaching — thinking that there is only one way to preach. Instead we must encompass the many different styles of preaching which are helpful and biblically directed. We must also understand that whilst the message of a specific verse is, of course, unified rather than divided or contradictory, its meaning is usually rich and many faceted. Because of this, different themes may be drawn out of the same passage, giving rise to very different sermons from the very same portion of the Bible.

4. Any definition of expository preaching which is too narrow and excludes the style of such men as C. H. Spurgeon, who was probably the greatest ever preacher — just has to be wrong. To criticize CHS on these grounds and fail to hold his preaching up as a model worthy of emulation today is, in my view, inexcusable. (See for example this post on Pyromaniacs.)

5. Expository preaching is not without its dangers, one of the chief of which is sounding too much like a Bible commentary read aloud.

6. Preaching needs to skillfully draw modern people into the Bible, explain the text, induce wonder, then drive the point home with a clear sense of how the people need to think, feel, believe, and act differently here in the 21st century.

7. Preaching is entirely dependent on the supernatural and sovereign activity of the Spirit, who equips both preacher and hearers for what is an impossible task and makes the words of the Bible live in its hearers hearts. Preaching needs to be passionate, emotive (though not necessarily emotional), and bring about a holy moment of experiencing the presence and voice of God through His Word.

8. Preaching God’s Word is the primary way He has ordained for people to be saved, taught, equipped, matured, and encounter God. It is the hope of the church, and a restoration of true preaching has always accompanied true revival.

9. Our preaching should be targeted at and have something relevant for each of our different audiences — the unbelieving visitor, the backslidden, the new Christian, the mature Christian, and other church leaders in the congregation. But, ultimately we are accountable to an audience of One before whom we must give an account.

10. Given the impossibility of this task, is it any wonder we need to be devoted to the study of the Word and to prayer, expressing our utter uselessness and unworthiness to proclaim God’s Word? Surely we do well to conclude that we need the help of God in our preparation, personal lives, and delivery to make us instruments that He can use. When I read about preaching I do feel that we have barely scratched the surface, and that sadly a generation exists today that has mostly never heard preaching as it should be.

“. . . expositional preachers are modern day prophets, serving merely as conduits through which the Word of God may flow into the people of God in order to do the work of God in them.” Mark Dever