Over the history of the Southern Baptist Convention there have been many gifted preachers. Those men have been used by God to provide timely and prophetic sermons that have guided, shaped, and corrected the course of individuals, churches, and the SBC. In this series we will look at some of those sermons. Even though most of these men will be dead, the message that they preached lives on because of the truth of the ever living Word of God.
When RG Lee was a young pastor in SC, a deacon came up to him after a prayer meeting where he had given a devotion. The deacon told the young preacher that the material was pretty good but he needed to work on it some. Lee did and turned the devotion into a sermon called “Payday Someday” that he preached over 1,200 times in pulpits all across the SBC.
RG Lee was the pastor at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis from 1927-1960. (!) He served as President of the SBC, and was called “a veritable paragon of excellence in the preparation and delivery of sermons” by WA Criswell.
Payday Someday starts off with an introduction to the major characters. Naboth, the devout Israelite. He calls Jezebel the “the evil genius at once of her dynasty and of her country.” And last but not least is Ahab, “the vile human toad who squatted upon the throne of his nation — the worst of Israel’s kings.”
“Payday Someday” is one of the greatest sermons from one of the greatest SBC pulpiteers. It illustrates the reality of sin and points the sinner toward Jesus. He reminds his hearers that no sinner can escape the wrath of God. Payday will come someday for every sinner. The only way to escape the coming payday is through Jesus Christ.
“Did God mean what He said, Or was He playing a prank on royalty? Did pay-day come? “Pay-day—Someday” is written in the constitution of God’s universe. The retributive providence of God is a reality as certainly as the laws of gravitation are a reality. And to Ahab and Jezebel, pay-day came as certainly as night follows day, because sin carries in itself the seed of its own fatal penalty.”
“The only way I know for any man or woman on earth to escape the sinner’s payday on earth and the sinner’s hell beyond – making sure of the Christian’s payday – is through Christ Jesus, who took the sinner’s place on the cross, becoming for all sinners all that God must judge, that sinners through faith in Christ Jesus might become all that God cannot judge.”
Take the time to watch it below or read it here.
What a great man. One of 8 children. 6 boys; 2 girls. His mother used to say to her boys: hate liquor, always believe the Bible, and treat every girl as though she was something holy.
My dad and Dr. Lee were friends. He was in our church a time or two when I was a kid. My brother was saved when Dr. Lee preached Payday Someday.
My mother in law grew up in Memphis. Graduated from East High School in 1956. She went to another church, but often visited Bellevue and heard Dr. Lee. My grandmother was reared in Mineral Springs, AR. When she and my grandfather married, they moved to Memphis. My Dad was born there in 1926. They were Methodists, but she heard Dr. Lee preach Pay Day Someday. Not sure if she heard it at Bellevue, or a tent or outdoor theatre.
That’s very cool. I wonder how many were saved after the preaching of that one sermon?
I once heard a story about R.G. Lee.
He and his wife were visiting another church and the pastor preached “Pay Day Someday” without any changes. On leaving, Dr. Lee commented that the pastor of the church had the gall to preach his sermon. His wife said, “Well he preached it better than you did!”
Since dad died 7 weeks ago, I’ve been very nostalgic. He had a similar experience happen a couple of times. Once, a pastor wrote him to say that he’d taken one of dad’s sermons, transcribed it, preached it, and 5 people got saved. Dad was pleased but also a bit torqued. When he preached his own sermon, NO ONE got saved. He had a tape ministry (it was the 80s) that sent out about 200 to 300 of his sermon tapes weekly. He also got invited to speak at other churches often. One pastor got every one of his tapes,… Read more »
Have listened to it. I doubt anyone preaches this style any more. So, what would modern listeners think of this passage? “We ask — just here — some questions. Who dominated the papacy in its most shameful days? Lucretia Borgia — a woman. Who really ordered the massacre of Saint Bartholomew’s day? Catherine de Medici — a woman. Who breathed fury through Robespierre in those dark and bloody days in France when the guillotine was chopping off the heads of the royalty? A woman — determined, devilish, dominant! Who caused Samson to have his eyes punched out and to be… Read more »
Don’t want to sound condescending I don’t think the average person would have enough exposure to the history or literature to understand most of his illustrations .
I had to Google several ?
Kitty O’Shea is rather obscure. The rest not so much. The theme is that a woman ruined a man’s life, as if men were freed from moral choices if a woman was wily enough. It’s overtly sexist but in keeping with the times, I suppose.
Robert G. Lee was one of the great SBC preachers and a past SBC president. Payday Someday is a great sermon everyone should read, hear, heed.
While R. G. Lee had a different style of preaching, he was a great preacher to his generation and beyond.
I’d recommend preachers get and read every book you can find by Dr. Lee.
I had the opportunity to hear Dr. Lee preach. I shook his hand. I haven’t washed my hands since!
David R. Brumbelow
Heard him preach it in my home church. I think it was 1965.