Category: Heroes

We must not only think of it [salvation] in terms of ourselves, but we must realize that God’s ultimate object in ever planning and introducing the scheme of salvation is to glorify His Son. … We must realize – there is nothing so comforting as this, nothing so assuring – that the very honor and glory of the blessed Holy Trinity is involved in our ultimate complete salvation.  – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans vol. 8, p. 229

The true Christian is a man who cannot understand himself; he can only say ‘I am what I am by the grace of God.  I have not done this myself.’  But he knows that something has been done to him.  He is amazed at the fact that he loves God.  The Christian is a man who is conscious that God has been dealing with him.  – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans Vol. 8, p. 190

An old preacher who lived about 100 years ago used a very good illustration to explain the matter.  He said: “Here is a statement which appears to be contradictory, ‘All things work together for good to them that love God”.  How can that be?  The good things I see, are working in that direction, but look at those other things – they seem to be working in the opposite direction.  How can you say that things which are working in the opposite directions are for my good?  The old preacher answered by using the illustration of a watch.  He said, “Take your watch and open it.  What do you see?  You see that one wheel is turning in an anti-clockwise direction, but it is attached to another wheel that is working in a clockwise direction.  You look at the machinery and you say, ‘This is mad, this is quite ridiculous; here are wheels turning in opposite directions; the man who made the watch must have been a madman.”  But he wasn’t.  He has so arranged the watch and put in a main-spring to govern all the wheels, that when it is wound up, though one wheel turns this way, and another that way, they are all working together to move the hands round the face of the watch.  They appear to be in contradiction but they are all working together to the same end.  Our lives are like that.  Look at life, and you ask at first what is happening?  I can see that certain things are good for me, but other things seem to be al against me.  But think again of the great Watchmaker who has planned it all.  Do not jump to the conclusions, look for the ultimate purpose, look for the ultimate end.  And if you do so with a spiritual eye you will soon begin to see that God knows what He is doing.”  – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans Vol. 8, pp. 169-170

Our trouble usually is, that we are so deeply concerned about our little problem and our particular difficulty, that we forget everything else, as if our problem was the one thing that mattered in the whole universe.  Pray for the success of God’s kingdom, for the spread of His Kingdom, for the success of His work.  It is always safe to pray for a greater knowledge of God, a greater knowledge of His love, a greater knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, a greater understanding of His love towards you.  You need never hesitate about offering such prayers; they are always acceptable to God, they are always well-pleasing in His sight.  He delights in them, and the more we pray in that way the more God will be pleased with us.  Prayer for greater holiness, greater sanctification, greater strength, and help in the battle against sin, is always right.  – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans, Vol. 8, p. 152

Anyone who has never felt the need of being taught to pray is really telling us that he never has prayed, and that he does not know what prayer means.  – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans Vol. 8, p. 146

Is it not clear, then, for all these reasons, that if the Lord Jesus Christ is not crucial, central, vital, and occupying the very centre of our meditation and our living, our thinking, and our praying, that we really have not right to look for revival?  And yet, what is the position?  If you go and talk to many people, even in the Church, about religion, you will find that they will talk to you at great length, without ever mentioning the Lord Jesus Christ.  – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Revival, p. 45

We often think of patience as passive; but it is a very active virtue.  Certain people have a reputation for being patient, but  sometimes the real truth about them is that they are just dull.  They are not sensitive, they do not react, and are more or less stupid.  That is not patience.  Patience is an active virtue, for which reason we are constantly exhorted to it.  It is a virtue that has to be developed, so that it becomes strong and firm.  – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans Vol. 8, p. 113

The only hope for the creation, for the whole universe as well as man is in the character of God, and in the following way.  God’s glory and God’s honor prohibit His leaving the world as it is.  If God is God, the great Creator, and if God is all powerful, with all rule and authority at His command, then the very character of God makes it quite impossible that He should leave creation as it is at the present time. He cannot leave it in this condition of vanity, and in this condition of ‘groaning’ and ‘travailing’.  It is inconsistent with the character of God that this should be the permanent state of affairs; and of course that is precisely what the Bible tells us.  – D.Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans Vol. 8, p. 57

If a Christian is suffering, Paul’s teaching does not merely administer to him a general word of comfort and of good cheer, telling him that all is well, that things are not as bad as he thinks they are, and that they must get better after a while, that the clouds cannot persist forever, and there is always a silver lining!  That kind of teaching is often presented in the name of Christianity, a mixture of psychology and suggestion treatment.  But it is not Christianity at all!  ‘I reckon’, says the Apostle; I am drawing this deduction; this is the inevitable logical conclusion that I come to as the result of working my way through the great doctrines of the Faith.  And if we are to know truly Christian comfort in our suffering we must do exactly the same.  In other words, we are entitled to say that any Christian who is unhappy because of suffering, or who is guilty of any of the things I have mentioned under my negative headings, is found in such a condition for one reason only, namely, he has not been thinking clearly.  The business of preaching is not merely to make the hearer feel a little happier while he is listening or while he is singing particular hymns; it is not meant to be a way of producing an atmosphere of comfort.  If I do that I am a quack, and a very false friend indeed.  No, the business of preaching is to teach you what to think.  – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans vol. 8, p. 24

We are all so morbidly concerned with ourselves and our own problems that we even go to the Bible as a book which is going to help us with our problems. We want some help, we want this and that and we go to the Bible, as if it were some sort of dispensary to deal with the so called ‘mumps and measles of our souls’.  Our very approach to the Bible is so subjective instead of being objective. How often, I wonder, do we go to the Bible saying to ourselves, ‘I am going to read the Bible because I want to see what God has done; I  am going to read my Bible in order  that I can look at God’s acting and intervening in history’? But, the Bible is not just a book that answers my little questions and tells me various things that I may want to know; the Bible is the record of the activity of God, the manifestations of God, God’s mighty acts and deeds.  – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Revival, p. 96