Why Preaching?

Sermons of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 602 Ratings

🗓️ 2 February 2026

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Romans 10:14-17 — Why does the Christian church gather weekly to hear a message when each person could be at home reading from the Bible? In his sermon on Romans 10:14–17 titled “Why Preaching?” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones addresses this question as he delivers a message about the importance of preaching as it is God’s chief way for the gospel to be heard. Reading is right and good for the knowledgeable Christian, but for someone newly touched by the Holy Spirit, the words of a pastor are formative to their acceptance of the good news. Dr. Lloyd-Jones recalls the Ethiopian man who was reading the Old Testament but could not understand the writings. He needed Philip to come into his chariot and explain its meaning. This is the wonderful power of preaching. In addition to this truth, Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains how important it is for believers to gather in church to hear a message. Believers, he says, need to be present for those who need help. Perhaps it is a person has lost a family member, needs encouragement, or needs help understanding the sermon. Believers are there to also lean on each other. He concludes by saying that preaching can be the powerful spark of revival and that the gathering of Christians has the potential to glorify God in ways that didn’t seem possible.

Transcript

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0:00.0	We are dealing at the present time, as most of you will recall, with the words found in Paul's
0:05.9	Epistle to the Romans in chapter 10, and from verse 14 to verse 17, from verse 14 to
0:15.2	verse 17 in the 10th chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Romans.
0:19.9	How then shall they call on him in whom they have
0:22.3	not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they
0:28.1	hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written,
0:34.0	how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad
0:38.8	tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord,
0:46.8	who hath believed our report, so then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
0:56.2	Now, all of that, you see, is a continuation of the statement made by the apostle in
1:02.7	verse 13, where he says, whosoever shall Paul upon the name of the Lord shall be said,
1:08.6	that quotation from the prophet Joel.
1:13.3	And then he says,
1:20.4	well, now then, that being the way of salvation, not by works, but by simply calling upon the name of the Lord, acknowledging our utter helplessness and complete hopelessness and impotence,
1:26.8	we can do nothing but call on the name
1:29.7	of the Lord. Well, now the question is, how can one do that? Well, it's obvious, he says,
1:34.7	that one can't do that unless one has heard about the law. You can't believe in him unless you've
1:40.3	heard of him, and you can't hear of him unless somebody has preached him to you,
1:46.0	and no one preaches unless he is sent, and so on.
1:50.0	Now, I have suggested that the apostle answers this question as to how one becomes the whosoever
1:59.0	who calls upon the name of the Lord by saying the two things
2:02.8	are essential. One is that the Lord should be preached, be presented, and the second is that
	...

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