‘Murray traces the work of seven pastors over time, and he shows the consistencies in their ministries, saying “what is it about these men that distinguished them as exceptional leaders, pastors, expositors of God’s word?” And he gives insights into that, and shows that it’s the same over the centuries; it hasn’t changed. Very encouraging read, very pleasant read, and I would recommend it.’ — JEFF KINGSWOOD

Book Description

Spiritual leaders lead people to heaven. Here in Seven Leaders are accounts of seven such men, together with the distinctive features of their lives—in John Elias, the necessity of the power of the Holy Spirit; in Andrew Bonar, the reality of communion with Christ; in Archie Brown, the irresistibility of love; in Kenneth MacRae, the need for faithfulness to death; in Martyn Lloyd-Jones, theology and doctrine; in W. J. Grier, passing on the ‘sacred deposit’; and in John MacArthur, the governing authority of the word of God. An Old Testament miracle once took place at a burial. We are told that when the deceased was ‘let down and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet’ (2 Kings 13:21). Through books, the past can be touched, and the consequence may be as much of God as when Martin Luther handled the old writings of Jan Huss. Records of faithful servants of Christ still speak and can bring new life today.

Iain Murray on Seven Leaders

REVIEWS

• Review by Pastor Jimmy Reagan
• Review from Credo Mag by Gary Steward
• Review from Books at a Glance by Anthony Chute

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The post Seven Leaders appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘That man of granite with the heart of a child.’ — F. J. CHAVASSE

‘Ryle was at heart an evangelist.’ — MARCUS LOANE

‘Famous, outstanding and beloved exponent of the evangelical and reformed faith.’ — D. M. LLOYD-JONES

‘A single-minded Christian communicator of profound biblical, theological and pastoral wisdom, a man and minister of giant personal stature and electric force (‘unction’ was the old name for it).’ — J. I. PACKER

‘Bold as a lion for the truth of God’s Word and his Gospel.’ — RICHARD HOBSON

Book Description

The life of J. C. Ryle has only to be heard once to be remembered. His 84 years (1816–1900) included remarkable contrasts—the promise of a fortune, then the poverty of a bankrupt; a Suffolk country pastor, then bishop of the leading seaport of the British Empire. But there was a still greater change—from the successful youth at Eton and Oxford, who did not pray or read his Bible till he was 21, to become a Christian ‘bold as a lion for the truth of God’s Word and his Gospel’.

Although one of the most widely read evangelical authors of the nineteenth century, Ryle’s writings lost influence after his death. The world had moved on, as was supposed. Then, fifty years later a ‘rediscovery’ began. Research on his life was accomplished by able authors, and from a new wealth of material Iain Murray has put together a compelling biography. Ryle believed in definite doctrine, in a message which does not adjust to the times, in revival, and in the living Christ. He knew that all the great turning points of church history have been attended with controversy, and that ‘there are times when controversy is not only a duty but a benefit’.

J. C. Ryle’s life is convincing evidence that Christianity stands or falls depending on its relation to the word of God and to the Holy Spirit. That he is being read widely again at the present time gives hope of better days.

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REVIEW

• Review by Ben Rogers
• Podcast from Reformed Forum with Iain H. Murray
• Review by Nate Pickowicz from 9Marks
• Review by Tim Challies

The post J.C. Ryle appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

评 论

《真正的复兴》是教会史研究领域的经典，不仅记录了教会的过去，更是开启当代福音派运动及其深层次需要的钥匙。当今每个渴望教会复兴的基督徒都应阅读本书。
——傅格森（救赎主神学院系统神学教授/《磐石之上》与《日光之上》作者）

本书依据史实分析18-19世纪的美洲福音派复兴运动，指明如何区分“真正的复兴”与“奋兴运动”，以及此差异对今日教会的重大影响。这是精研复兴运动史的杰作，是苏醒人心的暮鼓晨钟，是期盼教会复兴者必读之作!
——吕沛渊（威斯敏斯特神学院博士）

《真正的复兴》一书，我早已拜读过英文原著，受益匪浅。不管是在神学的正统性上，还是在历史的客观性上，此书都属于经典之作。真正的“复兴”，永远是“上帝神奇的工作”，不是来自人为的操纵和宣传所造成的各种各样的“奋兴”。“复兴”的共同点就是：“相信上帝在他的话语上永远信实，相信基督已从死里复活，相信圣灵已被赐下以确保上帝的国度会不断扩展”；而人为的“奋兴”则是“情绪性的、出于人为操控的事情”。真正的复兴所代表的是“思想”，是真 理方面的发现和回归，最终也落实在生命的改变和美德的增加上。因此，真正的复兴来自圣灵大能的降下，使人真正认罪、悔改，使周围的世界出现“整体性的变革”。中国教会正在经历真正的“复兴”，但也不乏各种形式的人为的“奋兴”。唯愿默里先生此书中译本的出版，能够帮助中国教会识别何谓真正的“复兴”和人为的“奋兴”，在复兴的烈火中能够既有火热的心志，同时保持头脑的冷静和清醒，消除各种山寨版的“复兴”和“基督教”，使中国教会和社会更多得蒙真理的光照与祝福！
——王志勇（香港雅和博圣约书院院长/美国主恩基督教会主任牧师）

內容簡介

“决志信主”等同于悔改归信吗？复兴是情绪化的吗？复兴是人为操作的吗？复兴是可以复制的吗？真正的复兴必定会带来生命的改变和美德的增加。因此，真正的复兴来自圣灵大能的降下，使人真正认罪、悔改，使周围的世界出现“整体性的变革”。

伊恩•默里分析了1750年到1858年在美国大部分宗派中出现的复兴运动，用大量历史事实推论得出复兴与奋兴之间的差别。帮助读者去伪存真，认识真正的复兴。

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‘This is a love story of the noblest kind. It is an enriching consideration of a woman’s relentless love for her Saviour, her Bible, her friends, and most uniquely, her love for lost, suffering and desperate sinners – to whom she gave her life. Such devotion as hers seems so distant. Reading this brief history will confront and help to close that distance.’ — JOHN MACARTHUR

‘Iain Murray has written a superb account of this remarkable woman’s life . . . He has read her books and her poetry, and what he writes reveals a keen understanding of the motives and undertakings of an extraordinary woman. It warmed my heart and informed my mind . . . I cannot too enthusiastically recommend this book.’ — IAN S. BARTER

‘Amy Carmichael receives a short but solid treatment from Iain Murray. I love the respect he has for her, even though she represents quite a different theological tradition.’ — TIM CHALLIES

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Reviews

• Review by Tim Challies
• Review by Books at a Glance
• Review by Ian Barter
• Review by Mignon Goswell
• Review by Pastor Jimmy Reagan
• Review by Guy Davies
• Review by Catherine MacKenzie

The post Amy Carmichael appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘All that Iain Murray writes is lucid, compelling and of consequence for the church.’– GEOFF THOMAS

Book Description

In London in the 1950s Martyn Lloyd-Jones gave a new meaning to ‘conferences’. For him they were not times for learned discussion, or for the reading of papers, but a means of awakening a younger generation to big spiritual issues. From such gatherings, preachers, in particular, would carry fire back to their churches. Following his mentor’s  model, Iain Murray has sought, with others, to continue that practice. These pages are a selection of his more recent addresses and include:

• Evangelical Holiness and Spirituality; 
• The Attack on the Bible;
• Apostasy;
• The Benefits and Dangers of Controversy; 
• and Rest in God, The Fourth Commandment Is For Today. 

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Reviews

• • Review by Bob Thomas
  • Review by Alan Hill

The post Evangelical Holiness appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘The most powerful and persuasive voice in Britain for some thirty years is now silent.’ — JOHN R. W. STOTT

‘The greatest man I have ever known.’ — JAMES I. PACKER

‘Martyn Lloyd-Jones was one of God’s special gifts to the Church in the 20th century, and the longer time goes on, my admiration of him increases. He has a more profound spiritual vision than anyone else I know.’ — MARK DEVER

Book Description

This book is a re-cast, condensed and, in parts, re-written version of the author’s two volumes D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The First Forty Years (1982) and The Fight of Faith (1990). Since those dates, the life of Dr Lloyd-Jones has been the subject of comment and assessment in many publications and these have been taken into account. The main purpose of this further biography, however, is to put Dr Lloyd-Jones’ life before another generation in more accessible form. The big story is all here.

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.’

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The Single-Mindedness of the Ministry of D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Reviews

• Review by Roland Burrows
• Review by Bob Thomas (see page 17).

The post The Life of Martyn Lloyd-Jones appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

La figura de Spurgeon no necesita presentación en los circulos evangelicos. El conocido predicador de la época  victoriana dejo una huella que se ha extendido mucho mas alla de la Inglaterra de la segunda mitad del siglo XIX. Sin embargo, no siempre se han aquilatado debidamente las razones de su influencia, y menos aun se ha comprendido el mensaje que sacudió hasta sus cimientos las estructuras religiosas de su epoca. De hecho,  puede decirse que el mensaje de Spurgeon ha sufrido una manifiesta distorsion con el paso del tiempo.

Este libro investiga los principales aspectos del pensamiento teológico de nuestro personaje, especialmente en relación con las grandes controversias que le ocuparon su denuncia de la superficialidad religiosa, el debate en torno a la “regeneracion bautismal”, la aguda polemica contra las herejias modernistas y la batalla por la predicacion del evangelio.

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The ministry of Charles Haddon Spurgeon has extended beyond his lifetime in many remarkable ways. His sermons have continued to be widely and enthusiastically read and the story of his life, retold in many biographies, continues to fascinate Christians everywhere. But a man often reveals the most endearing facets of his personality in his correspondence, unveiling himself in the private activity of putting pen to paper. That was true of Spurgeon.

In this new collection of Spurgeon’s letters the private man is made public in a way that confirms the reality of his Christian profession and proclamation. Here we see him as always purposeful and earnest, yet warmly human; deeply sensitive and spiritual, yet remaining child-like and humorous. In this fine selection of letters to young and old, to members of his congregation and strangers, to colleagues and fellow pastors, we are given a glimpse of Spurgeon as his friends must have known him: full of life, full of wisdom, full of joy, even when in discomfort, but most of all, full of Christ.

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The post Letters Of Charles Haddon Spurgeon appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

This book seeks to throw light on the reasons which have given rise to the superficial image of Spurgeon as a genial Victorian pulpiteer, a kind of grandfather of modern evangelicalism. Even before his death in 1892 newspapers and church leaders disputed over the features of his life which entitled him to fame. Not his ‘narrow creed’ but his ‘genuine loving character’ was most worthy of remembrance said one periodical, echoing the general view. When Joseph Parker contrasted the hard Calvinism preached at Spurgeon’s Tabernacle with the praiseworthy Christianity exemplified in his orphanage, The Baptist protested that the man about whom Parker wrote ‘is not the Spurgeon of history’. But the distortion continued and Spurgeon forecast how the position he held might fare in years to come: ‘I am quite willing to be eaten by dogs for the next fifty years but the more distant future shall vindicate me’.

This book traces the main lines of Spurgeon’s spiritual thought in connection with the three great controversies in his ministry– the first was his stand against the diluted gospel fashionable in the London to which the young preacher came in the 1850s; the second, the famous ‘Baptismal Regeneration’ debate of 1864; lastly, the lacerating Down-Grade controversy of 1887-1891 when Spurgeon sought to awaken Christians to the danger of the Church ‘being buried beneath the boiling mud-showers of modern heresy’.

Steve Lawson on Reading the Forgotten Spurgeon

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Reviews

• Review by Mike Leake
• Review by John Bird

The post Forgotten Spurgeon appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

Professor John Murray was recognized in his own lifetime as one of the leading Reformed theologians in the English-speaking world. Born in Scotland, he served in France during the First World War, before pursuing studies, first at the University of Glasgow, and then at Princeton Theological Seminary, USA. In 1929 he was invited to teach Systematic Theology at Princeton, and did so for one year, before joining the Faculty of the newly formed Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. There he shared with such scholars and Christian leaders as J. Gresham Machen and Cornelius Van Til in the great struggle to maintain the old Princeton tradition of theology, represented by the Hodges and B.B. Warfield.

John Murray remained at Westminster until his retirement in 1966. He returned to his native Scotland, married and enjoyed a brief period of fatherhood prior to his death in 1975.

A careful scholar, and eloquent lecturer, a moving preacher, and the author of many outstanding articles and books, Murray’s driving passions were to declare Christ’s Word, advance his cause, and bless his people.

The Life of John Murray, published originally to accompany the four volumes of his Collected Writings, is now available again separately in this popular reset edition.

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Related Interest

• Review of The Life of John Murray by Erik Raymond
• The Collected Writings of John Murray
• Banner Trustees commend the Collected Writings of John Murray
• Sinclair Ferguson describes a transformative encounter with John Murray

The post Life of John Murray appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

Today the Church’s hope in respect to her mission of discipling all nations is in eclipse. The world gives Christianity no future and evangelicals themselves doubt whether the cause of Christ can ever attain to a greater triumph before his Second Advent. Must the prospects for succeeding generations be darker than those of today? Can we even expect any period of history to intervene before the Advent of Christ? How can readiness for Christ’s coming be consistent with the belief that revivals are yet to be given to the Church? Such questions are brought to the fore in this book and the author, employing both exposition of Scripture and much historical and biographical material, sets out the case for believing that it is not ‘orthodox’ to indulge in gloom over the prospect for Christianity in the world.

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Extract

• Extract from Chapter 5 – ‘The Hope and Puritan Piety’.

The post The Puritan Hope appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

Book Description

The nature and life of the church is one of the most crucial issues facing Christians in the closing years of the twentieth century. Questions of ministry and liturgy, authority and freedom, appear in a wide variety of guises throughout the world-wide church. Relativism and uncertainty seem to be as common in the church as in the world. Many Christians wonder whether there is any way forward.

In this context, The Reformation of the Church is an invaluable aid. An anthology of documents, drawn largely but not exclusively from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it presents in a readily accessible form the finest thinking of the reformed fathers on authority and freedom, the need for reformation, the nature of the government, unity and membership of the church of Jesus Christ.

Warmly welcomed when first published in 1965, and widely use since then, these documents provide invaluable material for ministers, elders, leaders, students and all Christians who are concerned to see Christ’s church fulfill her God-given role at a critical juncture in her history.

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The post Reformation Of The Church appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

C. H. Spurgeon (1834-1892) is best-remembered today for the remarkable ministry he exercised in London during the Victorian era. His influence was incalculable. Thousands listened to his preaching every week. While hundreds of thousands throughout the world later read his sermons in published form. A man of great natural gifts, charm and wit, Spurgeon’s master passion was evident in everything he did – to preach Jesus Christ to all as the only Saviour. But as early as 1855 this brought him into a serious and prolonged doctrinal controversy with Hyper-Calvinism. By tracing this conflict, exploring the issues involved in it and showing what was at stake in them, Iain Murray underlines the contemporary relevance and importance of sharing Spurgeon’s convictions.

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Jeff Kingswood – The Importance of Iain Murray’s Spurgeon Vs. Hyper-Calvinism

Review

• Review by Trevin Wax

The post Spurgeon vs. Hyper-Calvinism appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

Late Victorian and Edwardian Britain saw a mega-change in reading habits. For the first time fiction took the primary place in book publishing, and the medium was taken up by brilliant and entertaining authors with an agenda for ‘a brave new world’. Such men as Thomas Hardy, H. G. Wells and George Bernard Shaw were the opinion makers for coming generations. ‘With the next phase of Victorian fiction’, wrote G. K. Chesterton, ‘we enter a new world; the later, more revolutionary, more continental, freer but in some ways weaker world in which we live today.’

Chesterton did not live to see the full consequences of the change but W.R. Inge predicted what was coming when he wrote:
No God. No Country. No family. Refusal to serve in war. Free love. More play. Less work. No punishments. Go as you please. It is difficult to imagine any programme which, if carried out, would be more utterly ruinous to a country situated as Great Britain is today.

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The post The Undercover Revolution appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘If D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ life were a novel it would be panned by critics as too unrealistic. Because his life is a historical reality we are left to wonder at the providential energy that could have effected such an astonishing career. . . This book is an electrifying apologetic for the powerfully theologized pulpit emphases of the Reformers and Puritans.’ — CHRISTIANITY TODAY

‘This provides great encouragement and instruction for pastors seeking a ministry given to scriptural and doctrinal edification of the Bride of Christ.’ — TOM NETTLES

‘The two-volume biography of Martyn Lloyd- Jones, the most powerful twentieth-century influence on my life.’ — MICHAEL HAYKIN

Book Description

When Martyn Lloyd-Jones, physician, preacher and Christian Leader, died in 1981, after more then 40 years in London, few knew the remarkable story of his formative earlier years which, in the authorised biography, is now told for the first time. From his rural Welsh background to St Bartholomew’s Hospital (where at the age of 23 he was Chief Clinical Assistant to Sir Thomas Horder, the King’s Physician), then, suddenly at 27, to a struggling Calvinistic Methodist Church in Aberavon, South Wales, he appears successively as schoolboy, dairyman’s assistant, political enthusiast, debater, doctor, and finally Christian preacher.

Some regarded his change of career as romantic, others as foolish. The one thing of which Dr Lloyd-Jones was sure was that his settlement amid the industrial depression of South Wales was no sacrifice: ‘I gave up nothing. I received everything. I count it the highest honour God can confer on any man to call to be herald of the gospel’

This volume traces the unforgettable events of his first pastorate, his wider ministry in Wales (where, by 1933, the press reported, ‘he draws thousands to hear his message in all parts of the Principality’), his first visits to North America, and finally his settlement at Westminster Chapel, London,on the eve of World War II. While some saw him as ‘the modern Moody’, and others as ‘the last of the Calvinistic preachers’, Iain H. Murray’s work makes constant use of the hitherto unpublished material, and is able to present Dr Lloyd-Jones’ own view of his life and ministry.

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The post D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘If D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ life were a novel it would be panned by critics as too unrealistic. Because his life is a historical reality we are left to wonder at the providential energy that could have effected such an astonishing career. …This book is an electrifying apologetic for the powerfully theologized pulpit emphases of the Reformers and Puritans.’ — CHRISTIANITY TODAY

‘This provides great encouragement and instruction for pastors seeking a ministry given to scriptural and doctrinal edification of the Bride of Christ.’ — TOM NETTLES

‘The two-volume biography of Martyn Lloyd- Jones, the most powerful twentieth-century influence on my life.’ — MICHAEL HAYKIN

Book Description

The ministry of Martyn Lloyd-Jones at Westminster Chapel which began at the outbreak of World War II, was suddenly changed at the point at which this volume begins. His hard work in the difficult War and post-War years became the preparation for his great influence in London in the fifties and sixties. But these pages trace his ministry into wider circles – to the Universities, to Europe, the United States, South Africa and ultimately, in his books, to the whole world.

While Dr Lloyd-Jones’ ministry was thus altering the course of things in the Christian world, other powerful changes were also at work. Ecumenism stirred the declining British churches and found evangelicalism unprepared and uncertain in its response. Crusade evangelism and then the charismatic movement brought additional uncertainties. These things inevitably drew Lloyd-Jones into controversy and, with a new toleration appearing with evangelicalism, his voice was no longer as welcome as it had once been. Many were unready to believe, as he did, that the popular adjustments being made by evangelicals were only substitutes for the true awakening so profoundly needed.

This volume contains much source material now in print for the first time and will be a primary text on evangelicalism in the twentieth century. At all vital points Iain Murray, the authorised biographer, is able to give his subjects own understanding of what happened. But neither public ministry nor controversy dominate the story. There is much on Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ personal life. The foremost impression left is of the overruling of divine providence and of the spiritual grace which shown in him as a Christian. Though in the eyes of the other Christians he was ‘full of faith and of the Holy Spirit’, yet in his own eyes he was, ‘ nothing but an old sinner saved by the grace of God’.

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The post D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘If D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ life were a novel it would be panned by critics as too unrealistic. Because his life is a historical reality we are left to wonder at the providential energy that could have effected such an astonishing career. . . This book is an electrifying apologetic for the powerfully theologized pulpit emphases of the Reformers and Puritans.’– CHRISTIANITY TODAY

‘This provides great encouragement and instruction for pastors seeking a ministry given to scriptural and doctrinal edification of the Bride of Christ.’ — TOM NETTLES

‘The two-volume biography of Martyn Lloyd- Jones, the most powerful twentieth-century influence on my life.’ — MICHAEL HAYKIN

Book Description

When Martyn Lloyd-Jones, physician, preacher and Christian Leader, died in 1981, after more then 40 years in London, few knew the remarkable story of his formative earlier years which, in the authorised biography, is now told for the first time. From his rural Welsh background to St Bartholomew’s Hospital (where at the age of 23 he was Chief Clinical Assistant to Sir Thomas Horder, the King’s Physician), then, suddenly at 27, to a struggling Calvinistic Methodist Church in Aberavon, South Wales, he appears successively as schoolboy, dairyman’s assistant, political enthusiast, debater, doctor, and finally Christian preacher.

Some regarded his change of career as romantic, others as foolish. The one thing of which Dr Lloyd-Jones was sure was that his settlement amid the industrial depression of South Wales was no sacrifice: ‘I gave up nothing. I received everything. I count it the highest honour God can confer on any man to call to be herald of the gospel’.

Volume 1 traces the unforgettable events of his first pastorate, his wider ministry in Wales (where, by 1933, the press reported, ‘he draws thousands to hear his message in all parts of the Principality’), his first visits to North America, and finally his settlement at Westminster Chapel, London,on the eve of World War II. While some saw him as ‘the modern Moody’, and others as ‘the last of the Calvanistic preachers’, Iain H. Murray’s work makes constant use of the hitherto unpublished material, and is able to present Dr Lloyd-Jones’ own view of his life and ministry.

Volume 2 contains much source material now in print for the first time and will be a primary text on evangelicalism in the twentieth century. At all vital points Iain Murray, the authorised biographer, is able to give his subjects own understanding of what happened. But neither public ministry nor controversy dominate the story. There is much on Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ personal life. The foremost impression left is of the overruling of divine providence and of the spiritual grace which shown in him as a Christian. Though in the eyes of the other Christians he was ‘full of faith and of the Holy Spirit’, yet in his own eyes he was, ‘ nothing but an old sinner saved by the grace of God’.

ALISTAIR BEGG ON D. MARTYN LLOYD-JONES

The Single-Mindedness of the Ministry of D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

The post D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘No man is more relevant to the present conditions of Christianity than Jonathan Edwards. . .He was a mighty theologian and a great evangelist at the same time. If you want to know anything about true revival, Edwards is the man to consult. My advice is, read Jonathan Edwards. Go back to something solid and deep and real’. — D. MARTYN LLOYD-JONES

Book Description

When it first appeared in 1987, this book was the first full-length life of Jonathan Edwards to appear for almost fifty years. In the meantime the Pastor of Northampton, Missionary to the Indians in Stockbridge, and President of the New Jersey College (later Princeton) has been increasingly recognized as the greatest intellectual figure in eighteenth-century America.

Never before has so much material by Edwards or such detailed studies of his thought been available. Yet many of those who have led this renaissance of Edwards studies remain personally out of sympathy with almost every one of their subject’s personal convictions.

Special interest therefore attaches to Iain H. Murrary’s carefully-researched biography. Writing with the easy style, spiritual insight and sympathy with his subject which marks his other biographical works, Murray builds on the older lives of Edwards, but also harvests material from more recent studies.

Iain Murray believes that Edwards cannot be understood apart from his faith. Only when seen first and foremost as a Christian do his life and writings make sense. The integrity of this interpretation is confirmed in this study as Edwards is allowed on point after point to speak for himself.

The result is a biography which is both factually and theologically reliable. Edwards’ theology is set in the context of his everyday life in public and private. His family relationships punctuate the narrative, adding both interest and pathos. This outstanding study is not only an exceptional biography; it also serves as a classic illustration of how the church today can and should learn from its past history.

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Reviews

• Review by Gregg Metcalf
• Review by Brian Chang
• Review by Robert Palmer

The post Jonathan Edwards appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

In the controversy arising from the promotion of this method, three main reasons have been put forward in its defence; the argument from Scripture, the ‘psychological argument’ which asserts the helpfulness of a public response to the individual, and a general argument as to its evangelistic effectiveness. In this booklet Iain Murray, himself an evangelical minister, examines the validity of these arguments and questions whether they can satisfactorily answer counter-arguments from Scripture and experience.

The post The Invitation System appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

Should the Psalter be the only hymnal of the church? Iain Murray has sympathy with the question. Psalms set to music are a rich heritage and one not to be set aside, yet he argues that there are biblical reasons why it is a mistake to suppose that the words of the Old Testament alone are to be used in the singing of praise.

The post The Psalter appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

Of all the Commandments, perhaps it is the fourth (to keep holy the day of rest) which is least regarded. From an unholy world this is not surprising. But why should it be so among many who believe the Bible is the Word of God? Because, it is alleged, the fourth commandment belonged to the Jewish dispensation. For Christians the seventh day has given way to ‘the Lord’s day’ — a day, not of continuing Sabbath law, but of joy in Christ’s resurrection. Iain Murray believes that this argument misses the foundation of the biblical teaching, namely, that a day specially set apart has come down from creation, and that in essence its meaning remains the same. This is a conviction that was once pervasive in the English-speaking churches, and, if it is true, it sheds a much needed light on our contemporary situation.

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Review

• Review by Jeremy Walker

The post Rest in God appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘Murray’s critique is as kind as it is revealing and devastating. The icons of modern evangelism are shown as falling into egregious strategic errors which have weakened the evangelical faith at its very core. The bridges built to reach the mainstream became a two-way street by which those who sought to influence the liberals were themselves influenced.’ — R. C. SPROUL

Book Description

In the discussion and controversy which followed the publication of Evangelicalism Divided: A Record of Crucial Change in the Years 1950-2000, the author was invited by Dr. John F. MacArthur to give an address on the book’s main theme. The following is the substance of that address, given at the Shepherds’ Conference on 11 March 2001.

The post The Unresolved Controversy appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘He was a leader. He had initiative. He was original, and in certain ways had a touch of genius all his own.’ — H. H. TURNER

‘In addition to this pastoral work, Mr. Brown has probably done more service in preaching up and down the country than any other man.’– SIR ARTHUR BLACKWOOD, 1891

Book Description

Archibald G.Brown (1844-1922), instead of following his father to wealth in commerce and banking, built a church to hold 3,000 in the East End of London while still in his twenties. Five thousand eight hundred were to join in 30 years. Almost simultaneously he led mission work among the poor, being described by the Daily Telegraph newspaper as possessing ‘a larger practical acquaintance with the homes, and the social horrors of the foulest corners of the East of London than anyone who could well be cited.’

When his health demanded a change, AGB (as he was popularly known) served other churches, including the Metropolitan Tabernacle, London, before a last decade of extensive travel with a temporary home in South Africa. After Spurgeon died (1892), Brown was a foremost leader among those for whom Christian preaching still meant ‘love, blood, and power’. It was written of him in 1913 ‘No man of modern times, of his school of thought, can command larger audiences.’ Few spoke with more sympathy and tenderness, characteristics deepened by bereavements and the heart-felt realization that, ‘We have to perform our service in the same Spirit in which our Lord worked, and our measure of power will be according to the measure of Christ’s Spirit which we possess.’

After days of revival, AGB lived to see adverse changes in the churches. What a majority accepted as progress, he saw as apostasy, and as the Christian faith waned in Britain, his life came to be remembered by few. But truth that comes from Scripture cannot die. Those who read him today will find him alive, and his life opens a window on New Testament Christianity.

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Reviews

• Review by Jeremy Walker
• Review by Alan Hill

The post Archibald G. Brown appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘Murray’s critique is as kind as it is revealing and devastating. The icons of modern evangelism are shown as falling into egregious strategic errors which have weakened the evangelical faith at its very core. The bridges built to reach the mainstream became a two-way street by which those who sought to influence the liberals were themselves influenced.’ — R. C. SPROUL

‘Iain Murray’s startling analysis of the rift of modern evangelicalism is both informative and insightful. I share his concerns. I also appreciate his courage and his clarity. This is a much-needed word of exhortation to the church of our generation. It’s one of the best and most eye-opening books I have read in years.’ — JOHN MACARTHUR

Book Description

Why has Christian unity proved to be such a divisive topic? In the 1950s two movements — evangelicalism and ecumenism — offered differing paths to unity in the church. But as the decades have passed the influence of ecumenism has exposed a fault line in evangelicalism. Questions of critical importance have been brought to the surface: Is the gospel broader than evangelicals have historically insisted? Can there be unity with non-evangelicals in evangelism and church leadership? Does the gospel have priority over denominational loyalty?

These gained high profile in the crusades led by Dr. Billy Graham on both sides of the Atlantic, and in the subsequent interaction among evangelicals in North America and Europe. At first a new policy of ‘co-operation without compromise’ promised an ‘evangelical renaissance’. Those who feared an inevitable devaluation of the gospel were viewed as destined for the kind of isolation to which fundamentalism had been consigned earlier in the century.

Evangelicalism Divided traces the fascinating saga of the personalities, institutions and publications involved in this fifty-year period. Iain Murray’s account is not simply a black and white narrative. But using the mass of sources now available he shows how the new policy involved concessions which seriously weakened biblical Christianity. The first and greatest need, he argues, is to answer the most fundamental and divisive question of all: What is a Christian?

Review

• Review by Greg Gilbert

The post Evangelicalism Divided appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

The Bible no more knows a separate class of heroes than it does of saints. Because of Jesus Christ, every Christian is extraordinary and attains to glory. Yet grace so shines in some, that it lightens the path of many. As A. W. Tozer could write, ‘Next to the Holy Scriptures, the greatest aid to the life of faith may be Christian biographies’.

Iain Murray has already written on a number of Christians he specially admires. A few of them return to these pages, but with special reference to their thought — George Whitefield on Christian unity, for example. Most space, however, is given to little-known figures, including Robert Kalley and William Hewitson who shared in ‘the greatest happening in modern missions’, and to Charles and Mary Colcock Jones who took much-loved slaves with them to heaven.

There is much new research in these pages, and reminders of how much is missed by those who fail to read of the work of God in history. Christians who know what Christ did ‘yesterday’ are energized to trust and serve him today.

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Reviews

• Review by Guy Davies
• Review by Hugh Cartwright
• Review by Barbara Stoneham

The post Heroes appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘I heartily commend this book. Add it to your summer reading or your list of biographies worth enjoying.’ — THABITI ANYABWILE

‘John MacArthur is that increasingly rare phenomenon: the pastor of a large church who does not appear to care particularly about what the wider world thinks of him. He is also a man who has pastored his church for many decades. Frankly, he is also the kind of man you want on your side in a fight: apparently fearless and utterly reliable. As such, he is surely a great role model for younger pastors. MacArthur is simply not one to be swayed by the spirit of the age. This book by Iain Murray is a fine tribute to the man, giving the reader some idea of what it means to be an undershepherd who strives to remain faithful to his LORD over many years of ministry. This is a great little book for pastors and aspiring pastors, and will be read with great profit by any who pick it up.’ — CARL TRUEMAN

Book Description

Through more than forty years, John MacArthur has opened and taught the Word of God in one local congregation, Grace Community Church, Los Angeles. Consequences have followed which no one anticipated, and which the preacher attributes to ‘the sovereign hand of God’. A people united to Christ, and to their pastor, became a channel for blessing across the earth. It has been a ministry marked by characteristics that re-appear in every spiritual advance- not concern for ‘relevance’; not special attractions for young or old, male or female; but love for God and dependence on his Word and promises. MacArthur has proved, without ever intending to do so, that true preaching of the Word of God is international, ‘because if you teach the Bible it transcends every border, every language, every culture. It is as relevant today, and will be tomorrow, as in all the years since God put it down.’ That is why his sermons are heard or read in more than two hundred countries around the world today.

But this is also a human story, including the shaping of his youth, the strength of marriage and family, the refining influence of trials and controversies, and the building of a man whose staff have never known him to be angry. There are friends who, for all their love of his ministry, say his life is his best sermon.

Reviews

• Review by Tim Challies
• Review by Jon Payne
• Review by John Bird
• Review by Dane Ortlund
• Review by Jesse Johnson
• Review by Barbara Challies
• Review by Alan Hill
• Review by Andrew Roycroft
• Review by Jeffrey T. Riddle

The post John MacArthur appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

The atonement is the centre of the Christian faith and of the work of the gospel ministry. The purpose of gospel preaching is to make known what God has done in the cross of Jesus Christ. The evangel is ‘the preaching of the cross’ (1 Cor. 1:18).

If this was apostolic Christianity then we must examine ourselves as to whether our emphasis corresponds with it. Is the cross central to the message we preach in our evangelism?

But how are we to preach the cross? Does our preaching resemble that of the NT apostles? Does it match the passionate freeness with which the church’s greatest evangelists preached the cross to needy sinners?

In this booklet, Iain Murray helps us to think through the message of the cross, to appreciate God’s love and justice in the death of Christ, and to grasp the truth afresh that ‘by Christ crucified the love of God and his willingness to save is to be made known to all people.’

The post The Cross appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘We do not idolize him. But we do recognize him as a very unique man of God who can teach us through his pen and through his life. He was truly “born to write” and all the circumstances of his life, even the negative ones he did not understand, propelled him to the fulfilment of that God-ordained purpose.’ — RICHARD P. BELCHER

Book Description

Pink’s biography, first written by Iain Murray in 1981, is here revised and enlarged with the benefit of new material, including some of Pink’s own re-discovered manuscripts. It is the heart-stirring and compelling story of a strong, complex character — a ‘Mr Valiant-for-truth’ who was also a humble Christian.

In 1922 a small magazine — Studies in the Scriptures — began to circulate among Christians in the English-speaking world. It pointed its readership back to an understanding of the gospel that had rarely been heard since the days of C. H. Spurgeon. At the time it seemed as inconsequential as its author, but subsequently Arthur Pink’s writings became a major element in the recovery of expository preaching and biblical living.

Born in England in 1886, A. W. Pink was the little-known pastor of churches in the United States and Australia before he finally returned to his homeland in 1934. There he died almost unnoticed in 1952. By that date, however, his magazine was feeding several of the men who were leading a return to doctrinal Christianity, including Martyn Lloyd-Jones and Douglas Johnson (founder of Inter-Varsity) and, in book form after his death, his writing became very widely read across the world.

Book Review

• Book Review by James Jeffery

The post The Life of Arthur W. Pink appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘With the death of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones the most powerful and persuasive evangelical voice in Britain for some 30 years is now silent.’ So began an obituary for The Times in March 1981, written by John R.W. Stott. That Britain’s leading newspaper declined to accept the obituary was hardly surprising; the preacher at Westminster Chapel was scarcely in step with the celebrities of his age. But it is with more current assessments of Lloyd-Jones that this book engages. For some, he speaks directly to the current church situation. Dr. Mark Dever, of Capitol Hill Baptist Church, Washington D.C., could say in 2007, ‘Martyn Lloyd-Jones is one of the men I admire most from the 20th century, and the longer time goes on, my admiration of him increases. He had a more profound spiritual vision than anyone else I know.’

Iain Murray is not here repeating biography but concentrating on three themes he regards as of major significance.

• On the first of these-the nature of true preaching- there is fresh insight on what Lloyd-Jones regarded as of paramount importance. The analysis distinguishes between what was true of Lloyd-Jones as an individual and what is the permanent essence of powerful preaching.
• The second theme concerns the place that full assurance of salvation must have if Christianity is to be vibrant and persuasive.
• The third addresses the claim that Lloyd-Jones’s understanding of the New Testament church was needlessly divisive.

There is new material here, including some pages where the author differs with his friend. But Murray seeks to follow Lloyd-Jones in seeing the glory of God as the end of all Christian life and thought.

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Reviews

• Review by Alan Hill

The post Lloyd-Jones appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘This is a good book, and the truths it proclaims are urgently needed for our day when Evangelicalism is in a state of theological free fall and utterly unsure of its identity. Here, we have for us what that identity looked like in the past so as to guide readers into biblical living in the present.’ — MICHAEL A. G. HAYKIN

‘It is always very profitable to read any book by Iain Murray. This one is no exception. Every minister or Christian worker should read everything he has ever written. Accordingly, I could wish that every preacher, pastor, missionary, and Christian worker could have [Old Evangelicalism] placed in their hands.’ — MACK TOMLINSON

‘The chief dangers that confront the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God and heaven without hell.’ — WILLIAM BOOTH

Book Description

Sin, regeneration, justification by Christ’s righteousness, the cross, and the love of God, assurance of salvation – these are the truths that once thrilled churches and changed nations. Yet, where evangelicalism continues to affirm these truths, without such results, it is often assumed that she must have needs that cannot be met without something new.

These addresses by Iain Murray challenge that mindset. While the Bible not history is the textbook in these pages, Murray draws on the best authors of the old evangelicalism to confirm what a glorious message the gospel is.

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The post Old Evangelicalism appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘One of the best treatments of revival and the power of the Holy Spirit I have ever come across. It most closely resembles my beliefs with regard to this doctrine.’ — PAUL WASHER

Book Description

‘It is noteworthy that there are more books describing revivals than there are those that deal with their biblical basis. That may be because to read about revivals is more pleasant, and initially, perhaps, more inspiring, than understanding the struggle to establish a biblical theology which explains and justifies the phenomenon. But in the long run it has to be the latter which is more important. This book aims to supply that lack.’ — IAIN MURRAY

Paul Washer on Pentecost Today

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REVIEWS

• Review by Alf Cengia (Zeteo 3:16)

Extract

• Chapter 2

The post Pentecost – Today? appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘In Revival & Revivalism Iain H. Murray has produced yet another historical study of outstanding quality. This is not merely a record of the church’s past. Rather, those who read it will soon realize that it provides a key to understanding contemporary evangelicalism and its deep needs. It may not be too much to claim that this volume is essential reading for Christians who desire true revival in the churches of our own day.’ — DR. SINCLAIR B. FERGUSON

Book Description

Marrying careful historical research to popular and relevant presentation, Revival and Revivalism traces the spiritually epoch-making events of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries through the eyes of those who lived at their centre.

Fundamental to the book’s thesis is a rejection of the frequent identification of ‘revival’ with ‘revivalism’. The author demonstrates that a common understanding of the New Testament idea of revival was prevalent in most denominations throughout the period 1750-1858. Revivalism, on the other hand, is different both in its origin and in its tendencies. Its ethos is mancentred and its methods too close to the manipulative to require a supernatural explanation.

Iain Murray argues that an inability to recognize this distinction has led many to ignore the new and different teaching on evangelism and revival which began to be popularized in the 1820s. While the case against that teaching was argued almost universally by the leaders of the Second Great Awakening their testimony was submerged beneath propaganda which promised a ‘new era’ if only the churches would abandon the older ways.

Today, when that propaganda is largely discredited, there is a great need to rediscover the earlier understanding of revival possessed by those who most intimately experienced it. Revival and Revivalism will do much to aid this rediscovery. Powerfully presented, it contains a message of major importance for contemporary Christians.

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Revival and Revivalism in the Mission Field

Review

• Review by Bobby Jamieson

The post Revival And Revivalism appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘As various recent publications have indicated, Scotland exercised an influence on world history out of all proportion to its size. But the real reason for this has been obscured. It will be found here, however. And in the discovery of it the reader will be introduced to a wealth of little-known literature that is a vital part of the inheritance of the whole Christian church.’ — SINCLAIR B. FERGUSON

‘(Iain). . .as he typically does, brings out good lessons for Christians in all places, in all times. . . you not only get an encouraging short biography, but you get really important, true lessons about Gospel ministry in the local church.’ — MARK DEVER

Book Description

For 300 years a school of evangelical Christianity changed Scotland as a nation. Passing on the evangel of the Reformation, and growing stronger in persecution, it turned a people to the Bible, and finally gave many of its best sons and daughters to the ends of the earth. For fidelity, joyful perseverance in hardship, and improbable advance, the record remains a witness to the faith that overcomes the world.

The compelling interest of this account lies in the way it draws on contemporary records-many of these Christian leaders being authors as well as men of action. Iain Murray’s narrative explores this rich heritage and underlines its remarkable relevance for our own day. While not a Scottish church history, this is a gripping introduction to the many glorious successes, and some of the painful failures of the church, from the days of John Knox to those of Horatius Bonar. Explaining this panoramic tapestry are the words of Knox’s own commentary, ‘God gave his Holy Spirit to simple men in great abundance’.

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Review

• Review by Hugh Cartwright
• Review by Mary Bartholomew

The post A Scottish Christian Heritage appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘Thrilling history and biography, the bringing to light of forgotten men of extraordinary faith and energy for Christ; shrewd analysis; challenge to the contemporary church. Wesley and Men Who Followed has it all. I enjoyed it greatly – a breath of spiritually fresh air and vitality comes through wonderfully. I found it uplifting, challenging and gratitude-creating – and a great read.’ — SINCLAIR B. FERGUSON

Book Description

John Wesley — Oxford don and itinerant preacher, intellectual and evangelist, author and man of action, upholder of the Church of England yet founder of another world-wide denomination, disagreeing with George Whitefield, yet preaching his funeral sermon-truly a many-sided man. It is not wonder that he has had many biographers. Most books on Wesley have concentrated on his leading role in the Evangelical Revival. Wesley and Men Who Followed is more concerned with the spiritual explanation of a movement which, far from dwindling at his death, increased in momentum, breadth and transforming power. Drawing from original and often little-known Methodist sources, Iain Murray’s thrilling study leads to conclusions that are of great relevance for the contemporary church.

‘Was John Wesley deceived? Have our hymn-writers been deceived in their immortal songs? Was Saul of Tarsus deceived? Have we all been deceived?’ So wrote one unhappy modern Methodist. The evidence Iain Murray provides demonstrates that this was not the case. The result is that Wesley and Men Who Followed points to the key to the recovery of authentic Christianity today.

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• Review by Erik Raymond (TGC)

The post Wesley and Men Who Followed appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.