Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

858 Pages·1984·3.09 MB·English

by  Martyn Lloyd-Jones

STUDIES IN THE SERMON ON
THE MOUNT
STUDIES IN
THE SERMON
ON THE MOUNT
ONI?-VOLUME EDITION
by
D. MARTYN LLOYD JONES
VOLUME ONE

CONTENTS
Volume One: Matthew v. 1-48
PREFACE
I GENERAL INTRODUCTION
II GENERAL VIEW AND ANALYSIS
III AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BEATITUDES
IV BLESSED ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT (v.3)
V BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN (v.4)
VI BLESSED ARE THE MEEK (v.5)
VII RIGHTEOUSNESS AND BLESSEDNESS (v.6)
VIII THE TESTS OF SPIRITUAL APPETITE (v.6)
IX BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL (v.7)
X BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART (v.8)
XI BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS (v.9)
XII THE CHRISTIAN AND PERSECUTION (V.10)
XIII REJOICING IN TRIBULATION (v. rr, r2)
XIV THE SALT OF THE EARTH (0. 13)
XV THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD (V-14)
XVI LET YOUR LIGHT SO SHINE (v. r3-r6)
XVII CHRIST AND THE OLD TESTAMENT (v. r7, r8)
XVHI CHRIST FULFILLING THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS (v. r7-19)
XIX RIGHTEOUSNESS EXCEEDING THAT OF THE SCRIBES AND
PHARISEES (0.20)
XX THE LETTER AND THE SPIRIT (0.21,22)
XXI THOU SHALT NOT KILL (0.21-26)
XXII THE EXCEEDING SINFULNESS OF SIN (V.27-30)
XXIII THE MORTIFICATION OF SIN (v.29,3o)
XXIV CHRIST'S TEACHING ON DIVORCE (v.31,32)
XXV THE CHRISTIAN AND THE TAKING OF OATHS (v. 33-37)
XXVI AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH (v.38-42)
XXVII THE CLOAK AND THE SECOND MILE (v.38-42)
XXVIII DENYING SELF AND FOLLOWING CHRIST (v 38-42)
XXIX LOVE YOUR ENEMIES (v.43-48)
XXX WHAT DO YE MORE THAN OTHERS? (v.43-48)
PREFACE
HIS volume consists of thirty sermons preached for the most part on
successive Sunday mornings in the course of my regular ministry at
Westminster Chapel. It is being published for one reason only, namely, that I
can no longer resist the pressure brought to bear on me by large numbers of
people, some of whom heard the sermons when delivered and others who have
read some of them in our church magazine. Such readers will need no word of
explanation as to the form in which these sermons are published, but it may
well be necessary in the case of others.
These chapters are reports of sermons taken down in shorthand (no tape-
recording machine being available at that time). They have been subjected to a
minimum amount of correction and alteration, and no attempt has been made
to conceal, still less to expunge, the sermonic form. This has been quite
deliberate and for several reasons.
I am profoundly convinced that the greatest need of the Church today is a
return to expository preaching. I would emphasize both words and especially
the latter. A sermon is not an essay and is not meant, primarily, for
publication, but to be heard and to have an immediate impact upon the
listeners. This implies, of necessity, that it will have certain characteristics
which are not found and are not desirable in written studies. To prune it of
these, if it should be subsequently published, seems to me to be quite wrong,
for it then ceases to be a sermon and becomes something quite nondescript. I
have a suspicion that what accounts for the dearth of preaching at the present
time is the fact that the majority of printed books of sermons have clearly been
prepared for a reading rather than a listening public. Their flavour and form
are literary rather than sermonic.
Another characteristic of expository preaching is that it is not merely an
exposition of a verse or passage, or a running commentary on it; what turns it
into preaching is that it becomes a message and that it has a distinct form and
pattern.
Furthermore, it must always be applied and its relevance shown to the
contemporary situation.
I am constantly being asked to give lectures on expository preaching. I
rarely accede to such requests, believing that the best way of doing this is to
give examples of such preaching in actual practice. It is my hope that this
volume with its many faults may help somewhat in that respect, but it could
not possibly have done so if drastic excisions, and an attempt to produce a
literary form, had been made.
Here they are then' warts and all'. Those who are not interested in
exposition, and those who have no taste for preaching as such, will probably
be irritated by stylistic blemishes, `the art of repetition' for the sake of
emphasis, and what are termed `pulpit mannerisms' (as if they were worse than
any other kind of mannerism!). All I ask is that they be read and considered
for what they are and for what they set out to do.
My greatest hope and desire is that they may in some small way stimulate a
new interest in expository preaching. It may encourage preachers to know that
such sermons, lasting on an average forty minutes on Sunday mornings, can
be preached in what is called a `down-town church' even in these days.
The two people who are most responsible for the appearance of the volume
in print are Mrs. F. Hutchings who, almost miraculously, was able to take
down the sermons in shorthand as they were delivered, and my daughter,
Elizabeth Catherwood. Like many of my fellow preachers I acknowledge that
my best and severest critic is my wife.
D. M. LLOYD JONES
March, 1959
CHAPTER ONE