If a preacher faithfully preached the entire book of Romans once a week, every single week, how long would it take for him to finish preaching? If you’re Martyn Lloyd-Jones, it’ll take you 13 years. This man of God – one of the greatest preachers of the 20th century, one whom I consider a 20th century Christian Puritan – faithfully preached every single Wednesday, for 13 years on the book of Romans.
These 14 books are based on all his preaching on Romans, but has been adapted and personally edited by Lloyd-Jones to suit reading. When I bought the full set of 14 books, I wasn’t sure if I would ever finish reading the set. But when I got started and felt the depth of the gospel of God Himself through Lloyd-Jones’ blessed preaching, I really couldn’t stop.
Here’s the thing about Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ preaching. He is utterly faithful in his exposition. He plumbs the depths and riches of every verse in Romans to its uttermost depth, but he remains faithful and will not “fill in the blanks” in areas where Scripture has intentionally left blank. The depth of his preaching unearths things you never thought about in Scripture, while the faithfulness of his preaching makes it trustworthy. If you have listened to the recordings of his sermons (I highly recommend you do on https://www.mljtrust.org/), when you read these books, you would feel as if he’s still preaching “live” to you.
Here are some quotes from the books:
“The devil cannot prevent any of us from becoming Christians, but he often does succeed in making us miserable Christians.”
– Romans: Exposition of Chapter 1“Are you a Christian? This is how you discover the answer. Have you ceased altogether to look at yourself or to yourself, in every possible way? And are you looking only and entirely and utterly to the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God, and what He has done on your behalf?”
– Romans: Exposition of Chapter 3:20 – 4:25“We must not only assert the truth; we must attack the evil and the false; we must ‘prove’ our truth and demonstrate it; and that can only be done by means of a negative. State the truth, consider the objections, answer them, and so you establish the truth yet more firmly. This is the method of the Apostle himself.”
– Romans: Exposition of Chapter 8:17-39
These are powerful books and the Holy Spirit still works through Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ exposition of Romans. These 14 books will help you realise who God really is, who you really are, and how God really relates to His people whom He has chosen and saved. Read them and weep, rejoice, love, anticipate and rest.
Reviewed by Jin Wan