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Life of Martyn Lloyd-Jones | Iain Murray
This book is mainly an abbreviated version of a previous two-volume work by Iain Murray on the life of D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. That biography is in our estimation one of the finest biographies for any Christian to read. It is especially valuable for anyone thinking about entering into ministry. Though some of that material was necessarily left out of this volume, the present biography does a wonderful job of setting forward th emost stirring and thought-provoking material from the larger version. We recommend this book very strongly.
Sample Pages: Contents
Below is our review of the first volume of the larger edition, as well as a link to the second volume.
In our day, biographies of various Evangelical leaders in the West are so numerous that many Christians are not certain how such literature should be valued. How much can be said about so many Christian leaders, since their lives and ministries seem to be copies of one another? But in the case of the biography of D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, by Iain H. Murray, this cannot be said. This review covers the first of the biography’s two volumes.
As the sub-title (The First Forty Years 1899-1939) indicates, the first volume describes the first forty years of his life. Lloyd-Jones grew up in Wales. Around the age of twenty, he began studying medicine in London and soon was on the path to a very prestigious career. However, in the midst of his medical work, Lloyd-Jones was converted. He immediately began to see the emptiness of worldly pursuits and soon developed both an undeniable concern for lost souls and a desire to preach. Thus, despite scorn from his peers and from many others in the medical field, he abandoned medicine and assumed the pastorate of a chapel in Aberavon, a sleepy, poverty-stricken community in Wales.
This first volume of the Lloyd-Jones biography largely covers his remarkably Christ-like preaching ministry in Aberavon, along with glorious, gospel-magnifying accounts of mighty works wrought by God in the souls of Christians and sinners alike. Some of the most notorious sinners in Aberavon were mightily convicted and saved through his preaching. His ministry stood apart in that it was so thoroughly based upon and saturated with Scripture.
Any Christian who harbors evangelistic desires will find this first volume tremendously encouraging. Also, Christians familiar with the preaching of Lloyd-Jones through his books will greatly enjoy it, since it records large sections of his sermons, many of which will not be found in other published materials. Finally, Murray’s biography of the life, convictions, and ministry of Lloyd-Jones will thoroughly edify all who intentionally read it and motivate them to greater concern for gospel proclamation in their own communities.
Click here for volume two.
When Lloyd-Jones left medicine, he intended only to be an evangelist in a mission hall in South Wales. No one was more surprised than he in being called to a ministry which would eventually affect churches across the world. How this happened is here explained, but the theme is the person described by F. F. Bruce: ‘a thoroughly humble man. He was a man of prayer, a powerful evangelist, an expository preacher of rare quality, in the fullest sense a servant of the Word of God.’
Behind that theme a greater one emerges. In ML- J’s own words: ‘My whole life experiences are proof of the sovereignty of God and his direct interference in the lives of men. I cannot help believing what I believe. I would be a madman to believe anything else-the guiding hand of God! It is an astonishment to me. ‘
