‘I have not heard such preaching for years…I wish every minister of the Lord in America could have heard the sermons I have heard from this anointed servant of the Lord.’ So wrote Dr. Wilbur M. Smith of Fuller Theological Seminary, in Moody Monthly, after hearing Martyn Lloyd-Jones preach an evangelistic sermon from the Old Testament.
In Old Testament Evangelistic Sermons a major selection of such sermons is now published for the first time, and the reasons for Wilbur Smith’s enthusiasm will become clear. For while much of Dr. Lloyd-Jones’ published expositions are designed to help those who are already Christians, he regarded himself, first of all, as an evangelist. Recognizing that no-one is a Christian by nature, he saw that the primary calling of the church lay in presenting the message of the gospel to the non-believer, the unconcerned and the sceptic.
The question of how to preach the gospel effectively today is difficult for many to answer; that it can be done from the Old Testament is frequently doubted. The importance of Old Testament Evangelistic Sermons lies in the way it illustrates the answer to these difficulties. Its pages are alive with the power of the gospel expressed in sermons which unintentionally provide models to encourage similar biblically relevant and powerful preaching.
