In Depth:  Martyn Lloyd-Jones

The sermon begins by putting the passage into context. In the previous chapter our Lord had told the story of the evil servants and the surprise return of the master. After hearing this story of judgment, the audience brought up the case of the Galileans who had recently been slaughtered by Pilate. The sermon continues. . .

Now our Lord is taking up and dealing with something that is very common among us human beings. I suppose there is no more exact way of discovering where every one of us really stands in our relationship to God and what our true position is than in our reaction to the things that happen round and about us.

What then is the future that awaits us as Christians?

Let me remind you again of our tragic failure to realise the truth about ourselves. What is it that awaits us when we come to die? I want to put this message to you by way of contrast.

This passage comes from chapter 1 of Dr. Lloyd-Jones's book on Romans 6, The New Man published by the Banner of Truth. It is a key point in the epistle. He writes . . .

We are looking at something which has a very direct and immediate connection with the previous chapter, something which arises directly from it.

An extract from Chapter 12, entitled: 'Seeking the Baptism of the Holy Spirit' from the book 'Joy Unspeakable' by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, published by Kingsway.

Let us be clear in our doctrine. The Spirit does give experiences. I have tried to show that there is no experience possible to the Christian in this world higher than this experience of the baptism with the Spirit. There is only one thing beyond this and that is the glory itself. As Peter puts it there in 1 Peter 1.8: 'Rejoice with a joy unspeakable and full of glory.' It is a touch of the glory everlasting and there is nothing that brings a man nearer to that than this, the baptism with the Spirit. This is the universal testimony of all men who have ever had this experience. He gives experiences, he gives power, he has gifts that he can give. But the point that I am making is that we should not seek primarily what he gives.

Doctor Lloyd-Jones's address to the Evangelical Alliance in 1966 is one of the landmarks of evangelicalism in the UK this century. In this his centenary year, we reprint one of its most striking sections, taken from Knowing the Times, published by The Banner of Truth.

Why are we as evangelicals thus divided? Why are we divided up among the main denominations?

Ephesians 2.4

This passage is an extract from a sermon preached by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones which can be found in his second volume of sermons from Ephesians: God's Way of Reconciliation, published by the Banner of Truth. The quotations are from the AV and although, at that time, 'man' was taken to mean 'men and women', the truth rings out to our comfort when the world now presents the same ugly face.

The Christian is a man, who, to use a Scriptural phrase, knows that he is but 'a stranger and a pilgrim' in this world. He is a mere sojourner, he does not any longer live for this world: he has seen through it, he sees beyond it. He is a journeyman, a traveller, and, as James puts it (chapter 4) he is a man who has realised that his life is 'but a vapour', a breath. So he does not regard this world as permanent; he does not lay down his plans and say: 'I am going to do this or that.' Not at all! But rather: 'If the Lord will . . .', it is all under God, and he realises how contingent it is. He does not any longer pin his faith or set his affections on this world.

Continuing our series celebrating the centenary this year of Dr Lloyd-Jones, here we print an extract from a series of sermons preached in 1959 in the anniversary year of the Revival of 1859. The passage was Exodus 33 7-11 and it is printed in the book Revival published by Marshall Pickering.

You will always find, as you read the history of these movements of the Spirit in the long history of the Christian church, that generally the very first thing that happens, and which eventually leads to a great revival, is that one man, or a group of men, suddenly begin to feel a burden, and they feel the burden so much that they are led to do something about it.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones centenary

The Doctor's classic Why does God allow war? Is being republished by Bryntirion Press at £3.99 in early June. This book consists of five sermons preached shortly after the outbreak of WWII. With conflicts in the Balkans and elsewhere, its re-appearance is very timely.

We must consider, first, what we may call the 'biblical' view of war. It is not that war as such is sin, but that war is a consequence of sin.

Celebrating his centenary year, this is the closing part of an address given to members of the BMA in Wales by Dr. Lloyd-Jones in 1973. It appears in Healing and Medicine, published by Kingsway.

I put in a plea for a new order, for a new conception of general practitioners, and in addition, general consultants as well. As a young man I worked for some six years with Lord Horder. He was not a specialist in any one department. He was a general consultant, and that was, I think, the genius, the great value of the man.

Marking his centenary year, we reprint an extract from Dr. Lloyd-Jones's classic entitled Spiritual Depression. From Luke 8.22-25 he expounds Jesus' question to the disciples.

There are many Christians who get into difficulty because they clearly have not understood the nature of faith. 'Well', you may say, 'if they have not understood the nature of faith, how can they be Christians?' The answer is that what makes one a Christian is that one is given the gift of faith.

In our series of extracts during his centenary year from the works of Dr. Lloyd-Jones, we come to his series on the Sermon on the Mount. Preached during the 1950s, it is a series still memorable in the minds of those who heard it preached and is still in print from IVP.

Certain things always characterise the Christian, and these are certainly the three most important principles.

This month's snippet from Dr Lloyd-Jones to mark his centenary is based on Romans 1: 16 and is taken from the book The plight of man and the power of God which was originally given as a series of lectures during WWII.

'For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.'

1999 is the centenary of the birth of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. It is our intention to print something each month from his published work in chronological order.

This is a sermon preached at Sandfields in Aberavon on September 20 1931. It is difficult to make an extract of what is a balanced whole, but this analysis of man's problem is taken from the sermon. The text is: 'And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees' (Luke 3.9).

The most surprising thing that has ever happened in this world is the coming of the Son of God into it. The most revolutionary thing in the world today is the Christian gospel. Why? Because it is almost the exact opposite of anything that you and I would ever have imagined . . .

The Virgin Mary used these remarkable words about God:

According to the Bible, men and women, ever since they first disobeyed God, have been sinful in all ages and in all generations.

But there are epochs and times when they are unusually, exceptionally sinful. You will find ages when the Israelites were certainly not living perfect lives, but they were comparatively good. Then there were other outstanding periods when the whole position became desperate.