Martyn Lloyd-Jones needs no introduction. Living Water: Studies in John 4 provides none. Even the dust jacket only contains a count (greater than 50) of the sermons contained in the collection. This comes off as Martyn Lloyd-Jones unplugged. 56 sermons in over 750 pages on John 4, and very pleasant reading it is. When several sermons are spent on just the 13th and 14th verses you know he’s spent some time meditating and praying through what he’s going to say.
I don’t have a good description for the style of these sermons. They aren’t expositional, in the sense time is spent expanding the hermeneutics, or looking much at the flow of the verbiage. They aren’t expanded analogies where he’s attempting to transpose the encounter with the woman at the well into modern day situations, though he does expand the entire scene from simply an evangelistic message into something that every Christian needs to hear every day. Instead he takes a thought and adds color. Then he has the ability to tie other scripture into the current text of John 4. Given the size one could almost expect this to be a commentary, but that’s not the case. They really stand as sermons. I found myself frequently try to guess what type of voice or inflection he would put on a paragraph. There were times I wished I could hear him preach these sermons. However it may be similar to meeting your favorite radio disk jockey, just like a DJ’s appearance fails to live up to the voice, I suspect there is no way Lloyd-Jones voice could live up to my expectations after reading his sermons. If I had Lloyd-Jones ability to expand a simple thought and cover it from every angle this review would run into a major thesis of a hundred pages or so.
These sermons are pleasant, they are easy to read and I found them to be thought provoking. They are longer than a typical devotional style reading, it certainly makes sense to treat each sermon as a devotional meditation on various aspects of John 4. I found the lack of an introduction and forward for the book odd. Also there are no comments from an editor or someone who pulled the sermons together. The only context is related to footnotes which do help understand the timing of certain references. So if there is a reference to an event, the notes will fill in the gaps by stating this was Advent season, or some similar comment. However if the point is to let the sermons stand, and leave the editorializing on who Lloyd-Jones may be and other circumstances on his life, this collection does it. Just like hearing his voice, perhaps knowing more about what motivated him, or why these sermons have been unpublished until now, would only distract from the sermons themselves. For instance he has a sermon on “True Worship”. He moves into a discussion on singing in the context of a worship service. He makes a comment that “not all hymn singing is worship”. (Again this was in a sermon on John 4:13-14, page 64) With all the current noise (pardon the expression) in regards to styles of music, it would be interesting to know more about the background of the sermon. On its face it seems hard to see why singing would come up in a sermon about Jesus meeting the woman at the well, though the thought certainly flows naturally enough in the sermon at least the way Lloyd-Jones presents the thought. But I would love to know more of Lloyd-Jones context, the congregation and other side pieces. Perhaps it’s more of my bias to biography coming through.
I guess the best way to read this book is to leave the context alone, and enjoy the sermons. Certainly Living Water will provide hours of food for thought.
Reviewed by Ted Anderson
