A bit of M.L.J. wisdom

Brothers,

I'm reading through Murray's volume 1 biography of D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, 'The First Forty Years' - a few pages each morning. It's been instructive and enjoyable for me and always has some food for thought. Here's an excerpt about his preaching, being a new pastor with no theological training:

One thing that was clearly recognizable about this preaching was that it was based upon no contemporary models. Most of the preaching which Dr Lloyd-Jones had heard throughout his life had only convinced him what he must not do. He did not stand in the traditional Welsh succession which for some years had confused emotionalism and sentiment with the genuinely prophetic...In contrast to this, his sermons were closely reasoned, with the main theme carefully analysed. He was certain that true preaching makes its impact, in the first instance, upon the mind...Perhaps the most unusual feature about the form of his sermons was the importance which he gave to the introductions. He once observed:
'I am not and have never been a typical Welsh preacher. I felt that in preaching the first thing that you had to do was to demonstrate to the people that what you were going to do was very relevant and urgently important. The Welsh style of preaching started with a verse and the preacher then told you the connection and analysed the words, but the man of the world did not know what he was talking about and was not interested. I started with the man whom I wanted to listen, the patient. It was a medical approach, really - here is a patient, a person in trouble, an ignorant man who has been to the quacks, and so I deal with all that in the introduction. I wanted to get the listener and then come to my exposition. They started with their exposition and ended with a bit of application.'