Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones’s sermon series on the book of Romans were preached to the congregation at Westminster Chapel in the heart of central London on Friday evenings between October 1955 to March 1968. These sermons …
Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones’s sermon series on the book of Romans were preached to the congregation at Westminster Chapel in the heart of central London on Friday evenings between October 1955 to March 1968. These sermons were preached from the beginning of October until the end of May each year, with breaks being taken for Christmas and Easter. Dr Lloyd-Jones began his ministry at Westminster Chapel in 1938, and his ministry there lasted for thirty years until his retirement in 1968. As such, his Romans sermon series came at the end of his preaching career. Spanning 366 sermons over twelve years, his series on the book of Romans is the longest expositional series Dr Lloyd-Jones ever did.
Dr Lloyd-Jones regarded the book of Romans as the ‘first in importance’ among the New Testament epistles. Indeed, it is likely that Dr Lloyd-Jones saw his exposition of the book of Romans as his most important work, as evidenced by the fact that he chose his Romans sermons as the first of his many sermons to be published following his retirement. His official biographer Iain Murray writes;
Many hundreds of unrevised manuscript copies of sermons thus existed by 1968, of which, for reasons already noted, comparatively few had appeared in print. He did not hesitate in choosing to put his Romans sermons first for publication in book form, to be followed by those on Ephesians.
Dr Lloyd-Jones’s Romans sermons include in depth exposition of passages such as Romans 5:1-5, Romans 8:28, , Romans 8:31-39, Romans 12, Romans 12:9-21, Romans 12:1-2. His hope for this Romans sermon series was that they will ‘not only help Christian people to understand more clearly the great doctrines of our Faith, but that they will also fill them with a joy "unspeakable and full of glory" and bring them into a condition in which they will be "Lost in wonder, love, and praise"’.
Many have charged that Paul gradually changed his view on when he thought the Lord would return. Is this the case? Critics use this to demonstrate that Scripture is not divinely inspired, using passages they think supposedly contradict each other. In this sermon on Romans 13:11–14 titled “Christ’s Return,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones guides the listener through this crucial contention, clearly showing that this is a false charge. He begins by demonstrating Jesus’s own view— that a gap of time would exist between His life and His second coming. What about Paul? He in fact warned people not to listen to those who said that the coming of the Lord was right around the corner. Elsewhere, he preaches that there are still things that need to happen before Christ would return. Additionally, he wrote about his own coming death. All of these points taken together demonstrate that Paul saw Christ’s return as something far off. But what is the solution to the problem? As Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains, Paul was writing in a style called “prophetic time,” a mode of writing that takes the future and shortens it down. Ultimately for the Christian, the day of the Lord is right around the corner because everything here is so brief and temporary. Listen as Dr. Lloyd-Jones helps the reader work through this issue.
Being suddenly awakened in the middle of the night by bright lights can be an incredibly alarming and disconcerting experience. In this sermon on Romans 13:11–14 titled “The Armor of Light,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains the similarities between this kind of event and conversion for those who become Christians and trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins. They are called to wake up out of spiritual sleep. What does Paul mean when he tells to awake and arise? Overall, it is a general call to spiritual discipline. Time and time again, Scripture warns against living in a purely theoretical way. The Christian life is to be one that is extremely practical. Christians are to take the knowledge of their conversion and the knowledge of what it means to be saved and apply those truths as they seek to live their lives. Dr. Lloyd-Jones reminds that it is because the Christian has been washed that they need to keep themselves clean. In constant practice, Christians are to put off the old man and put on the new man. Since they have been saved from being slaves to sin, why would they still live as they did before they were saved? Listen as Dr. Lloyd-Jones encourages Christians to live a life worthy of the gospel of Christ.
