The Sacred Anointing - Tony Sargent

An exceptional book on the late Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones’ conviction on the need for ‘the sacred anointing’ in the pulpit, by Tony Sargent, surely one of the UK’s greatest living preachers. I remember Sargent once preaching on the ‘height and depth, the length and breadth’ of the love of Christ in Karachi Cathedral and when he finished, there was a deep silence, and the priest announcing the next hymn could barely fight back his tears. This was anointed preaching. There was no shouting, no theatre, just a quiet intensity as he spoke on the cross, and at some point during the sermon there was this sense of another presence. Martin Lloyd Jones, like Sargent, was from the Reformed Tradition, which often translates into being ‘anti charismatic’, the wing of the church where speaking in tongues, divine healing, and the idea of God speaking directly is frowned on. Here it is all careful dry Bible exposition, appealing to the mind first, then perhaps the heart, and very finally the emotions. Sargent’s emphasis on how Lloyd-Jones, the unelected pope of the Reformed Church for many years, believed passionately in the absolute necessity for the Holy Spirit to be active, not just in preparation, but at the point of delivery - shows that caricature to be superficial. Lloyd-Jones was famous for his careful Bible exposition, but, as the thousands who attended his services testified, he never just lectured, indeed he would sometime almost wait, expecting that ‘anointing’ to fall at some point during his sermon. Though the main emphasis of the book is on this subject of ‘unction’, Sargent also skilfully weaves in a brief biography, especially Loyd-Jones’ relationship with Pentecostals. He also deals at some length on Lloyd-Jones’ homiletics, a term, the Doctor disliked, as it implied there was some method a preacher could imitate to bring about a result. But, as Sargent shows, he did have his own methods and there is much to learn from them. The central thesis of the book created a conundrum for me. I have been teaching homiletics for several years now to Iranians mainly from an Assemblies of God background where there is a great stress on inspiration, so much so that it is quite obvious that sometimes there has hardly been any preparation. The usual result is a long tedious meandering sermon which bores people, but they have to be forced to believe it is a divinely inspired, so God ends up getting the blame. To counter this I have stressed the importance of preparation and the absolute need to have a proposition, a big idea that demands a verdict from the people. Ironically this book, from a Reformed principal of a Bible College about the Reformed Church’s greatest preacher, confirms the tradition of the Pentecostals…true preaching is all about the Holy Spirit coming. Ultimately it is not about mental preparation or composing fine propositions, but His power…’Seek this power’, wrote the doctor, ‘expect this power, yearn for this power; and when this power comes yield to Him. Do not resist. Forget all about your sermon if necessary. Let him loose you, let him manifest His power in you and through you.’