Here's a real gold mine

by Phil Johnson

It's already been a little more than two years since S. Lewis Johnson went to heaven. He had long been one of my favorite biblical expositors. He was meticulous with details and low-key in his delivery, but he was always profoundly clear, succinct, and insightful—and never, ever dry. He closely followed whatever biblical text he was dealing with, never straying far from the main point. But he always surprised me with details I had never noticed in whatever passage he was dealing with.

It's popular in some circles these days to denigrate systematic theology as something that's virtually incompatible with biblical theology. Some will even try to argue that systematic theology has no valid or appropriate place at all in the discipline of biblical exposition.

If that's how you think, listen to almost any random sermon by S. Lewis Johnson. He will quickly disabuse you of those notions.

My first exposure to Johnson's preaching was about two decades ago—maybe even more. Someone gave me his tapes on the doctrines of grace. The clarity with which he dealt with the extent-of-the-atonement issue settled some questions I had been grappling with for a long time. What I appreciated most was Johnson's biblical approach. Those tapes changed my whole perspective on the relationship between systematic doctrine and biblical exposition. They also marked a major turning point in my thinking about Calvinism, Arminianism, and biblical soteriology.

Dr. Johnson did not publish a large body of written material, but his sermons have been disseminated freely for years by the tape ministry of Believers Chapel (Dallas), the fellowship Johnson where pastored for many years. Those sermons may be a more valuable legacy than a shelf full of popular-level books would have been. For someone like me, who never went to seminary, it's great to have so much solid teaching from a premier seminary professor. (By most accounts, Dr. Johnson was one of the finest teachers of the twentieth century.)

Dan Phillips linked to the online sermon collection at Believers Chapel last October, but at first glance, it seemed a very short list of material, and I didn't check it out closely enough to see what a rich resource is actually there. The sermons are organized by series, and in total, there are nearly 1500 sermons by S. Lewis Johnson downloadable freely there (not to mention lots of other sermons from other speakers).

Last week someone graciously gave me a complete set of the SLJ mp3s. I've been listening nonstop. Since I'm preaching through Galatians and I had never those sermons, that's the series I started with.

And—wow! This is good stuff. Here is as good a reason as I can think of to get high-speed Internet access and one of those huge-capacity iPods. The sound quality of the mp3s is excellent, and according to iTunes, there's enough preaching by Dr. Johnson in all of them combined that you could listen nonstop 24 hours a day for more than 54 days and you still would not get through all of them.

But if you ask me, that wouldn't be a bad way to spend a couple of months.

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