Men of Faith J Sidlow Baxter — E.A. Johnston

We are in a series on men of faith, men whom God has used in a significant way to reach their generation with the gospel. Our subject today is the legendary J. Sidlow Baxter. Sidlow Baxter is best known for his large Bible commentary, Explore the Book, which was his magnum opus.

It sold over a million copies. But his other book, the devotional book, Awake My Heart, had special merit as well. When booksellers wanted a book of devotions to place in the library of the President of the United States, they chose Sid's book, Awake My Heart.

They had it leather bound and placed in that library so that the President might read it and be inspired. J. Sidlow Baxter was a British preacher who moved to America in the late 1950s. Soon he became a popular conference speaker among evangelicals and some of the most famous pulpits in America soon had Sidlow Baxter preaching for them.

Baxter's Life of Prayer and Fellowship with God

He used to pray, Lord, make me win some so that I can win some. People just loved his charming personality and dignified manner, but it was his walk with God that attracted people to him the most. He entered the pulpit as if he just left the throne room of the Almighty.

That was his secret. He was a man of prayer and a man of the book. He knew his Bible and he knew the God of the Bible. He used to comment, think of it, every morning the Sovereign Lord of the Universe deigns to come and meet with Sidlow Baxter in my little study.

His widow, Iza, used to tell me she could hear him praying down the hall early in the morning. His groans and sighs could be heard as he met with his master. When I was writing the biography of J. Sidlow Baxter, I would often travel to lovely Santa Barbara, California to sit in his home and go to lunch with his widow, Iza, who was ninety-six at the time, and she would tell me stories about her beloved Sid, what laughs we shared together, and how I miss her.

Sidlow was a health food advocate who exercised daily, who only ate certain foods, and he popped vitamins all day long, living to be ninety-seven. Well friends, let me share with you how Sidlow Baxter was converted.

Baxter's Conversion and the Certainty of Sin's Discovery

He was a teenager at the time, and one evening he was walking down the street in the Midlands of England when he saw a theater marquee which read, The Infallible Detective. At the time, Sidlow Baxter just loved detective stories, so the sign caught his attention.

He went to the theater to see more about The Infallible Detective. Inside, a gospel crusade was going on, being led by the evangelist Fred Wood, who was preaching on The Infallible Detective from the text, Be Sure Your Sin Will Find You Out.

That night, sin found Sidlow out, and he was converted. Sidlow Baxter was a man of many talents and God-given abilities. He could preach, compose hymns, and play the piano. He could write poetry, and he penned over thirty books.

Some have become Christian classics, but most of all, Sidlow Baxter was a man of faith. He knew his God, and rose early every day of his life at 5 a .m. When he became ninety years old, he rose every day at 6 a .m.

Baxter's Pursuit of Sanctification and Knowing Christ

He longed to live a holy life before God, and he wrote three books on the doctrine of sanctification. Listen to the words flowing out of the desire of his heart from a poem that he wrote, that I may know him.

Ah, I long to know, not just a Christ of far-gone years ago, nor even reigning on a heavenly throne too high and distant to be really known. I long to know him closely, this is how, alive and in this ever-pressing now, a living one, within my heart this hour, communicating his all-conquering power, who now no longer lives from me apart, but shares his resurrection in my heart.

Baxter's Humor and Exposition of Ephesians

While Sidlow had a wonderful sense of humor that could delight his audiences, let me share with you an insight of Sid's humor from Dr. Stephen Olford, who wrote about Sidlow in the preface to my book.

Here are Dr. Olford's comments. We were together at the Port Steward Convention in Ireland, and whom should we be once more yoked with than Dr. Donald Barnhouse? Barnhouse opened the convention with a complicated address on Ephesians, and likened it to the tabernacle with its outer court, the holy place, the holy holies, and so forth.

Well then followed Sidlow Baxter, I don't know whether he dropped his bag or handed it to his driver, but he didn't have a Bible, so he borrowed a Gideon Bible, he opened it to the Ephesians epistle, I don't know whether or not he did it for effect, because Sid was quite an actor, but he bellowed forth, well now, how interesting, God has led my brother to speak on Ephesians, and here I am, determined to speak on Ephesians, but first of all, let's examine what my brother Donald's been talking about.

He calls Ephesians the picture of the tabernacle, I think it's more like a barnhouse. Well the crowd roared, so Barnhouse went one way with the message, and Sid opened up Ephesians and gave all the divisions with brilliant expositions, I can't remember a single thing Barnhouse said, apart from that one opening address, but Sidlow's treatment of Ephesians throughout that week at Port Stewart Kazik Convention remain with me to this day.

Baxter's Supernatural Consolation and Revival Ministry

And that's true friends, Sidlow Baxter left an impression on you, he could open up his Bible and captivate his hearers with his great grasp of it, when he preached it was sheer clarity and finality, well J. Sidlow Baxter had some supernatural experiences where God came and met him in a personal and unique way, he had visions from God which became realities in his life, on one occasion he was experiencing hearing problems with a ringing in his ears and it kept him awake at night, he became despondent and felt his prayers weren't reaching heaven, anxiety had gripped his mind and he could get no rest, well God broke through to Sidlow Baxter in a visit to him one night, between the hours of September the 6th and September the 7th, Sid said he heard no audible voice, but within him he heard that unmistakable voice which said the following, Sid, Sid are you forgetting Philippians 4 verses 6 and 7, those verses 6 and 7 perfectly match September 6 and 7, you've been forgetting the Thanksgiving, hand everything over to me Sid and start praying again with Thanksgiving and start believing that what you ask for becomes yours, try it Sid and if you do Philippians 4, 6 and 7 is all yours, Sidlow said well I can't explain it too coherently but that's just what I did, in bed there and then amid the nocturnal darkness I handed everything over to him and I started praying again with Thanksgiving, somehow I did it with ease and then suddenly Philippians 4, 6 and 7 was like an electric bulb turned on and I saw everything with illuminating difference and clearness, my mental tension and gloom had gone, my anxiety had dropped away like a broken fetter, I felt renewed and indeed I was, soon after I jumped out of bed and went downstairs for my time of early morning prayer and it was then that I began to realize something else, my hearing was better, I could hear everything now distinctly and the ear noises had gone completely, my whole nervous system had become relaxed and as I prayed with Thanksgiving I could never forget it, the peace of God invaded my heart like a gentle zephyr or some halcyon calm, God put a new song in my mouth and I'm still singing it today, Sidlow Baxter also experienced a move of grace and revival while he was the pastor of the largest Baptist church in Scotland, Charlotte Baptist Chaplain Edinburgh, the church experienced a real revival of religion under his sanctified preaching, God showed up one year and turned the place upside down, Sidlow commented about this time that when he entered the pulpit it was as if he entered a different atmosphere, the people became serious about eternal things and brokenness pervaded the sanctuary for several weeks, God had dwelt among them, Sidlow was a gifted preacher but he had all his sermons destroyed at his death which I think was a great mistake and a great loss to the Christian church, his written books are his main legacy including a work of fiction called The Hidden Hand, his quotes are still used today by pastors all over the globe, I'll never forget hearing him preach how this tall handsome white haired English gentleman entered the pulpit with such dignity and authority, how soon he captivated his audience and mastered the crowd with his brilliance, how soon he had them eaten out of his hand and then how he brought you face to face with the lovingness of Jesus Christ and his love to lost sinners, Sidlow Baxter was one of the greatest preachers I ever heard, he knew how to connect with his hearers in a remarkable way, listen to a portion of one of his sermons on how Jesus loved Martha, Mary and Lazarus, listen to his application, why didn't Jesus make you a D .L. Moody or an R .A. Torrey or a Wilbur Chapman or a Billy Graham or an Adrian Rogers, I'll tell you why, you mean more to him as you than you could ever possibly be as someone else, you mean something to the heart of Jesus that no one else in the universe does and just because of that Jesus wants you to be you, what he cannot be to anyone else and if you can receive it, he wants to do something and be something and say something through you and he can't through anyone else, Jesus loves you for yourself, Jesus is training you by the heavenly paraclete for some dear high ministry he has in the beyond, the troubles and the trials, the sufferings and the adversities which he permits, they are all part of the wonderful tuition, doing something in your character, preparing you for that wonderful ministry.

Baxter's Bible-Centered Preaching and Costly Discipleship

Well, Sidlow Baxter really knew how to grip his hearers with the truth of the Bible but he was able to do that because he was a man of one book, he knew his Bible, he didn't waste his time watching television or in foolish pastimes, he studied his Bible continually until it went right through him and when it did, he was able to teach it in such a way that it went right through you, he knew the cost of following God in a deeper way through an unhindered prayer life and years of Bible study.

The Need for a New Generation of Men of God

Often, Adrian Rogers had Sidlow Baxter come to his church in Memphis to preach, Adrian Rogers wrote the foreword to my book on Sidlow Baxter and Adrian Rogers could do one of the best impersonations of Sidlow, he sounded just like him with that booming voice of his but Adrian Rogers said something to me which I want to share with you now, it was at the funeral of Stephen Oldford, Dr. Rogers looked me in the eye and said in a very serious tone, do you know what concerns me?

I answered him, no Dr. Rogers, what concerns you? He said, what concerns me is that I see God calling up men like Sidlow Baxter and Stephen Oldford and I look around and I don't see any come uppers and that's true friends, where oh where are the Sidlow Baxter's, the Stephen Oldford's and the Adrian Rogers of our day?

It seems that we have men, many good men but of a lesser sort. I believe the reason is that we don't want to pay the price and count the cost of really laying hold of God and a serious walk with him as these men were willing to do, how few of us want to live a life of desperate prayer, shut up to God and God alone, how few of us today want to live a crucified life where we are dead to this world and everything in it for the glory of God and the good of his kingdom.

Lessons from Edwards, Brainerd, and Whitfield

I have books in my library on the life of Jonathan Edwards, David Brainerd and George Whitfield and I marvel at what God did with these men in their day and I wonder why we don't see God move like that in our day.

I believe the answer lies in the reality that we have the same God as Edwards and Whitfield but sadly we are not the same men, we are of a lesser sort, lazier, we don't read our Bibles enough, we don't pray like we should, we don't lay hold of God in a life of desperate intercession and prayer, we are too self-preserving, too worried about our reputations with men rather than our reputation with the Almighty.

Baxter's Call to Go Deeper with God

Sid Lowe Baxter knew the cost of a deeper walk with God, he wrote a whole book on this topic called Going Deeper, listen to his words about this great theme and you will catch a glimpse of his heartbeat for the Lord Jesus Christ, this was Sid Lowe Baxter's secret to the Christian life, what I give to him he takes, what he takes he cleanses, what he cleanses he fills and what he fills he uses.

Well friends, that was Sid Lowe Baxter, I hope you are enjoying this series on Men of Faith and I hope these messages stir your heart to a deeper life of faith in Christ Jesus, may Jesus become more clearer to you and more nearer to you and more dearer to you than ever before, until next time, keep looking at Him.