PREFACE

The sermons here reproduced in book form were all preached recently to my own folk at Rye Lane Chapel. They found the subjects dealt with intensely interesting, and desired that the spoken word should find a more permanent expression. The invitation to contribute to the “People’s Pulpit” Series seemed to be the fitting opportunity to send them forth, and I pray that meditation on these great themes may bring blessing to many.

Very deliberately I have kept two considerations before me. The first, in my judgment, is vital. Not to my knowledge is there anything in these sermons contrary to the Word of God. As a minister of the Word I earnestly desire to be obedient to its full revelation, and in all that is submitted in the following pages the reader will, I trust, find nothing for which the Scriptures do not give authority.

My second aim is conciseness. Busy men and women today prefer to get at the thought of a sentence as quickly as possible, and I have endeavoured to oblige them. I hope that brevity and clarity have gone hand in hand.

These messages were delivered after much thought and prayer and with the earnest desire that the Holy Spirit might find no impediment to truth in the instrument He was pleased to use. As the preacher and congregation recede and writer and reader come into contact through these pages, the prayer is still in my heart that He to whom I owe all, may be pleased to grant the gracious blessing of the Holy Spirit upon the ministry of the Word.

My sense of obligation is great, but to none greater than the people of Rye Lane Chapel who, Sunday by Sunday lavish their encouragements and gratitude upon their minister. Theo M.Bamber

Rye Lane Chapel

London S.E.15