Dr. Robertson’s Story
Dr. Lee Roberson (1909-2007), was a powerful preacher, church builder, and educator. This masterful illustrator was born in a little house near English, Indiana.
Years ago, his close friend Dr. Bobby Brown, a director of Heritage Baptist College, related a little known story that Dr. Roberson would tell:
An old mature pastor was teaching a young preacher the value and wisdom of being a success in the ministry.
He said to the young man, "This is the hardest lesson you will have to learn in the work of the Lord.” He then added, “Did you know a certain man?”
“Yes sir,” was the reply of the young preacher.
“Did you know him well?” continued the teacher.
“Yes sir,” the young man answered again.
“Do you know where he is buried?” asked the old preacher.
“Yes sir, I attended his funeral and the burial,” replied the younger man.
“Go to his grave and say all the good things he did,” instructed the mature preacher.
The young preacher obeyed and when he returned, the old pastor stated, “you have completed half of the lesson. Now, go back and say all the bad things he did that you can recall.”
Reluctantly, the young man followed the orders of the teacher.
When he returned the old preacher asked, "What did he say?"
The young man, slightly startled, answered, "Why nothing."
"Then sir,” said the old preacher, “you have the lesson. You must die to praise and criticism in the work of the Lord."
Paul stated in I Corinthians 15:31b – “I die daily.”
International Fellowship of Fundamental Baptists-IFFB
The IFFB is a fellowship of preachers. The IFFB began back in 1961, and over the years the fellowship has enjoyed the leadership of some great men of God: Dolphus Price, Bob Bevington, Harold Sightler, and many others. Indiana has contributed to the leadership of the IFFB with men like Ford Porter, Leon Maurer, B.M. Page, and Russell Dennis, Sr. This year, the Providence Baptist Church (Coopertown, TN) near Nashville is host to the semi-annual meeting for the International Fellowship of Fundamental Baptists (IFFB). The dates for the upcoming meeting are August 3 – 6, 2025. The church is also celebrating their 25th anniversary. Founding pastor, Dr. David Price invites all to attend. You can see a list of some of the upcoming speakers on the website: www.iffbonline.net .
Heritage plans to have a table at the conference, and we would love to see you!
The Unfinished Sermon
America’s Great Awakening had progressed several years when Jonathan Edwards was invited to preach at Enfield, Connecticut. Edwards, one of the early leaders in America’s revival, was on a brief preaching tour 20 miles south of his Northampton, Massachusetts church.
The Lord blessed in that July trip of 1741 with many conversions. On the previous Sunday, when Jonathan Edwards preached in nearby Suffield, Connecticut, 97 were added to the church. Three days later, on a Wednesday, Edwards began to preach in Enfield.
Jonathan Edwards did not display the dramatic gestures or eloquence of George Whitfield, the other prominent “Great Awakening” minister. Edwards’ style made little eye contact with the congregation, and he instead stared at the back of the room. In comparison with Whitfield, Edwards’ voice was weak, and he made his delivery from a manuscript sermon that he had virtually memorized.
On that day, Edwards chose as his text: Deuteronomy 32:35 Their foot shall slide in due time. This was the beginning of what would become his most famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”
The sermon had two parts: the judgment of a righteous God, and God’s mercy in allowing man a chance to accept Christ’s redemptive love and be saved.
Jonathan Edwards began his sermon with the word pictures of a just God who had every right to punish sinful man. Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering, and there are innumerable places in this covering so weak that they will not bear their weight, and these places are not seen.
Soon the preacher reached his most famous image: The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire;... And there is no other reason to be given, why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God's hand has held you up....O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God,... You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder; and you have no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath,...
Near that point in the message, conviction rained down on the congregation. The shouts of “What shall I do to be saved, with cries and other signs of repentance became so loud, that Edward’s voice was drowned out. Jonathan Edwards never arrived at the second part of his sermon which dealt with Christ’s offer of salvation (Marsden, George. The Short Life of Jonathan Edwards. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing. 2008. p.65- 68). The time had come for decisions to be made.
One of America’s most famous sermons was never completed on that day, but the message was delivered loud and clear.