The preacher under the spotlight in this week’s book was described by Emil Brunner as “the greatest preacher of Reformed Theology in the twentieth century” and few would argue that Dr D Martyn Lloyd-Jones was deserving of that accolade. Tony Sargent’s book, ‘The Sacred Anointing’, analyses the theology and preaching of Lloyd-Jones and helps us understand the man behind the ministry.

Lloyd-Jones, a Welshman who was born in the last year of the 19th century, became a doctor and a member of the Royal College of Physicians before God called him into the ministry that was to make him known the world over.

After 12 years pastoring a church in S Wales he joined Dr Campbell Morgan at Westminster Chapel in the very heart of London, succeeding him as Senior Pastor and serving there for a total of 29 years before beginning a wider ministry and seeing many of his sermons published. He died on St David’s Day, March 1st, in 1981.

Tony Sargent’s book is not a biography but an attempt to discover what it was about this man that made his ministry so successful. “For what was he looking? And why did he often feel so frustrated despite the accolades which came his way? What are the lessons both negative and positive we can learn from him?” (I can’t give you page references for the quotes because I have been reading a manuscript copy of the book kindly emailed me by the author, a personal friend of mine.)

Lloyd-Jones preaching style was simple and totally devoid of gimmickry. Sargent quotes the results of an experiment when thirty or so potential young preachers, the majority of whom did not have English as a first language, were invited to several consecutive seminars on the preaching method of Lloyd-Jones. Some knew of his ministry but hardly any had ever heard him preach. Part of the course involved listening to one of his sermons randomly selected. They found it to be i. totally lacking in humour, ii. sparsely studded with illustration, iii. saturated in Scripture references, iv. increasingly gripping and v. it left them with a sense of the greatness of God, a desire to hear more preaching like this and to cultivate such a style for themselves.”

His usual introduction was almost invariably - “The words to which I would like to draw your attention this morning are to be found in…” He would then preach for forty to sixty minutes. Jim Packer describes hearing Lloyd-Jones preach. “The sermon (as we say nowadays) blew me away…He worked up to a dramatic growling shout about God’s sovereign grace a few minutes before the end; then from that he worked down to businesslike persuasions calling on needy souls to come to Christ….I went out full of awe and joy, with a more vivid sense of the greatness of God in my heart than I had known before…The thunder and lightning; the gestures - kneading fists representing perplexed philosophers, the vibrating arm with open hand marking God’s descent in grace, the right-angled turn to point to heaven and hell (one side of the church for each, and always the same side); and the electric impact of those trombone-sforzando shouts about God.”

So what are the main lessons I have learned about Lloyd-Jones philosophy of ministry?

1. The preachers’ dependency on the Holy Spirit. As Sargent forcefully and convincingly shows, you cannot begin to understand Lloyd-Jones view of ministry or his effectiveness in ministry without understanding his pneumatology. Controversially, Lloyd-Jones believed in the baptism of the Holy Spirit as an experience distinct from salvation and he maintained that unction in preaching was one of the consequences of the baptism in the Spirit. Though many of us lesser mortals, myself included, might differ with him on this aspect of theology, we cannot dispute the evidence of the Spirit’s anointing on his ministry or his own sense of dependence on it. “Seek Him! Seek Him! What can we do without Him? Seek Him! Seek Him always! But go beyond seeking Him; expect Him. Do you expect anything to happen to you when you get up to preach in the pulpit? Seek this power, expect this power, yearn for this power; and when this power comes, yield to Him. Do not resist. Forget all about your sermon if necessary. Let Him loose you, let Him manifest His power in you and through you.”

Sargent sums up the Doctor’s position like this, “he believed passionately that Apostolic power for preaching the Gospel is still available within God’s sovereignty today.”

2. Diagnostic Preaching. This fascinated me. In Packer’s words, “He was in fact a brilliant diagnostician both spiritually and theologically.” The man himself said, “My early training in medicine and surgery are always with me. I look at a text, diagnose the condition and decide where I am to make the first incision. I cut deep through the layers of the tissue until I reach the heart of the problem. I deal with it and then rebuild and sew it up.” Sargent says this was a style Lloyd-Jones had learned and applied from his former chief, King George V’s doctor. “Horder would put up a number of possible diagnoses of a patient’s puzzling condition. Having erected them like skittles, he would encourage his entourage of junior doctors to consider each one, whether it should be knocked down or allowed to stand. The one which remained would be the correct diagnosis. This process involved observations and logical deduction. It demanded deep thought.”

Those who try and slavishly follow Lloyd-Jones microscopic approach to the detail of Scripture, analytically preaching at great length and sequentially through Scripture will probably fail in their task, at least in terms of effectiveness. However, we could learn much from the Doctor’s conviction that without the empowering of the Holy Spirit he could say nothing of spiritual benefit and also that the Word of God itself was what spiritually diseased men and women needed more than anything else.