On Friday evenings after the war, Dr Lloyd‐Jones held discussion meetings in one of the halls in Westminster Chapel in London. The subjects of these discussions were practical issues in the Christian life and the meetings were attended by many people.
The questions which arose demanded a knowledge of biblical teaching of all kinds; often, too, a matter of doctrine would arise which the Doctor would deal with, usually in his summing up at the end of the discussion.
It was partly as a result of this, partly, too, because the numbers were becoming too large for the hall, and, perhaps even more, because so many people were asking him about the biblical doctrines, that he felt it right to move the ‘Friday night meeting’ into the Chapel itself and to give a series of lectures on those great subjects.
He did this from 1952 to 1955 and after that he began his magisterial series on the epistle to the Romans which continued until his retirement in 1968.
The doctrine lectures were very much appreciated by the large congregations who heard them and, over the years, many have borne testimony to the way in which their Christian lives have been strengthened by them.
Later, the Doctor himself felt happier about preaching doctrines as a part of regular exposition—‘If people want to know about a particular doctrine, they can find it in the doctrine text books,’ he once said.
But the great strength of his doctrinal studies is that they are not arid text‐book lectures. He was, above all, a preacher and this shines through in all of them. He was also a pastor and wanted men and women to share his sense of wonder and his gratitude to God for the mighty facts of the gospel; so his language is clear and not encumbered by complex academic phraseology.
Like Tyndale, he wanted the truth [p viii] to be in words ‘understanded of the people’. Also he did not want the teaching to remain in the head only, so there is an application in each lecture to make sure that the heart and will are touched also. The glory of God was his greatest motive in giving these lectures.
Those who know the preaching and the books of Dr Lloyd‐Jones will realize, on reading the lectures, that his views on a few subjects developed over the years and that his emphases may not always have been the same.
But this is all part of the richness of his ministry as it has been of the ministry of many of the great preachers of the past. However on the essential, fundamental truths of the Word of God, there is no change and his trumpet does not give an uncertain sound.
