Holy Ghost Revival

In Acts 19 we read of a group of Ephesians who had not even heard that there was a Holy Spirit. When reading that verse in public one Church of England minister was heard to say that it was apparently also true, for the most part in most of the Anglican churches of his day. A W Tozer of the Christian and Missionary Alliance similarly remarked that if the Holy Spirit was withdrawn today most of what goes on in the name of Christianity would probably continue unaltered tomorrow. We live in the age of the Spirit but for many professing Christians it makes little difference to their every day lives. 

From time to time sincere Christians have woken up to this great neglect of the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost and have reacted by seeking to draw attention to him in various ways. Now the Spirit's role is in fact not to draw attention to himself but to the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus says in John 15:26 When the Counsellor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. 

I believe in the Holy Spirit

Given this fact it is important that, in the right sense, we can honestly say ‘I believe in the Holy Spirit’. This is what C H Spurgeon used to say to himself as he ascended the stairs of the pulpit of the Metroploitan Tabernacle pulpit. By that he did not mean 'I have neither prepared a message nor prepared myself for this moment but I believe God can do something anyway'. Rather, he meant that having prepared himself to preach and having prepared his message to be preached, he wanted to rely for conversions and for making an impact on Christians on neither of those things or both but only on the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven.

In the 18th century John Newton used to recommend young ministers to prepare their messages as if there was no Holy Spirit and then to preach them as if all depended on nothing but the Holy Spirit. In this way he sought to stress the paradox revealed in Scripture that, on the one hand, exalts the teaching that God is sovereign and yet at the same time insists on human responsibility.

There is no way that we can logically reconcile these two clear biblical doctrines. Abraham Kuyper used to say that if we find a way to reconcile the two then we have misunderstood. Humanly speaking they truly do seem antithetical. They find their resolution ultimately only in the mind of God.

Practically

B B Warfield called John Calvin ‘The theologian of the Holy Spirit’ because of the careful and thorough way Calvin set out the doctrine of the Spirit for the first time. Good Calvinists should have a clear theology of the Spirit in their heads. In practical terms, however, how are we to truly believe in the Spirit and honour him as we should yet give proper weight to the important doctrine of human responsibility?

Perhaps something along the lines of John Newton’s advice will serve us best. If we truly honour the Holy Spirit we will certainly notice references to him as we read the Scriptures, his inspired Word. We will be conscious of the need of his help when we come to pray. We will want to do nothing to make him grieved with us or to quench his fire in others. We will long to know him at work in conversion and sanctification; in illuminating his Word and guiding his people into truth; in restoring and renewing his people. On the other hand, we will also see the need to work hard at winning people to Christ; at seeking to grow in grace; at maintaining Christian unity; to know God’s will and live to his glory. Belief in the Holy Ghost should not lead to some sort of spiritual inertia but to a tremendous confidence in God that he is with us, strengthening and helping and nourishing and using us to his praise, as we live for him. The genuine fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, etc (Galatians 5:22).

Anointed

There are many examples of men in Scripture who were filled with the Spirit but the greatest example of such a man is the Lord Jesus himself for he was filled with the Spirit without measure. His very title Christ or Messiah means ‘Anointed one’. He was anointed not merely with oil but with the Spirit himself that oil symbolises. The Spirit of God was upon him enabling him to do what he did. If we are Christians we too have an anointing. As C S Lewis once put it, we are little Christs. We will then look for the leading of the Spirit, for his guidance and help and power and blessing, as we endeavour to live lives that reflect the patterns laid down for us by the Saviour. That is what keeping in step with Spirit is all about.

Never forget the Holy Spirit – not by talking about him or promoting the mere name but by actively seeking to keep in step with him in all that he does.

This article first appeared in Grace Magazine.

Carey the Plodder

It is often forgotten that William Carey, sometimes referred to as the father of the modem missionary movement, was a Baptist and a Calvinist. His life demonstrates total commitment to the task to which he was called - he was consumed in the service of the gospel, making known the Saviour of sinners to a people fast-bound in the grip of false religion, superstition and ignorance. Pushing aside the arguments of convenience and indifference which mitigated against the taking of the gospel to the heathen of India, he is said to have plodded in the service of Christ.

'Whatever he began, he finished. Difficulties never discouraged him,’ said his sister. He was ‘determined never to give up a particle of anything on which his mind was set .... He was neither diverted by allurements nor driven from its search by ridicule or threats,’ noted his brother. This is how those closest to him remembered William Carey.
He was not, of course, a superman, and there were times when Carey did become discouraged. However, he never gave up. In a famous statement he wrote of himself, ‘I can plod. That is my only genius. I can persevere in any definite pursuit. To this I owe everything.’ As his fellow-labourer J C Marshman pointed out, ‘it was the plodding of a genius’, but it was plodding nevertheless.

We may never emulate Carey’s genius, but we ought to emulate his tenacity. Indeed, this is the need of the hour. There are enough shooting stars. A steep climb, a burst of glory, and then they fizzle out. Rather, we need slow burners who will faithfully shine ever brighter until that perfect day. The art of plodding is exemplified in Carey’s life in many ways. We will highlight some of them.

Plodding to Christ
The teenage Carey, an Anglican, first heard the gospel through fellow-cobbler John Warr. Many and long were the conversations they had on spiritual things, and Carey put up strong opposition to the truth at first. Warr however was, in Carey’s words, importunate with me, lending me books, which gradually wrought a change in my thinking.’ He began to attend Independent meetings and increasingly came under the conviction of sin. It was his first attempt to pass off a counterfeit shilling that became the catalyst for his eventual conversion aged seventeen.
In an instant age, we expect instant conversions, but these are rare and often prove untrue. More likely and more lasting is ‘plodding’ to Christ. Like Warr, we must be persistent and faithful witnesses. Even unpromising material may prove tractable in the end and come to expect great things from God and attempt great things for Him. We also need to encourage seekers to search for Christ, to plod on until they find Him.

Plodding to clearer views of the truthOnce converted, it was a little while before Carey was willing to take the radical step of throwing in his lot with the despised Nonconformists. It was longer, again, before he became a Baptist. It was a Paedobaptist sermon that drove him to the New Testament. After a typically thorough study of the subject, including consultations with Robert Hall, Carey came to the truth and was baptised at Northampton by Ryland in October 1783.
Superficial thinking is everywhere today, and many lack conviction on doctrinal matters. The question of baptism, especially, has been down-played in some quarters. We must forsake woolly thinking and plod on to ever clearer views of the truth, whatever our roots and whatever conclusions we draw about baptism or similar subjects.

Plodding to share his missionary vision

The story of Carey’s valiant efforts to share his convictions regarding the plight of the heathen is fairly well known. It is difficult to appreciate, at this distance in time, what a task it was to share this vision. By 1788, he had already attempted to write a pamphlet setting out his arguments for bringing the gospel to the heathen. Andrew Fuller remembered how Carey’s ‘heart burned incessantly with desire for the salvation of the heathen’. However, Carey felt incompetent to finish the pamphlet and had no way of getting it published, anyway. He unsuccessfully tried to persuade other ministers to write. For Fuller and others, the ‘unbeaten path’ felt ‘utterly beyond their reach’.
Eventually Carey’s Enquiry appeared in 1792. That same year, he preached his famous sermon from Isaiah 54 at the Northamptonshire Association in Nottingham. When the ministers met the next morning, Carey was determined not to let another opportunity pass. ‘Is there nothing again going to be done, sir?’ he asked, gripping Fuller’s arm. At last persistence paid off, and that day the Particular Baptist Missionary Society was formed. The following year, Carey set sail for India.
It does not take long to tell the story, but we need to appreciate the years of struggle as Carey sought to share his vision of what ought to be done. We need to picture in our minds long evenings spent poring over maps, the lives of Brainerd and Eliot, and the Scriptures themselves. Imagine Carey coming home from yet another fraternal where the burning question went undiscussed or was again rejected because of the practical difficulties.
We need men who will beaver and badger for the truth, especially when others fail to see, or are reluctant to act. It is not an easy role, and we must be certain that we really do have it right, but it is work that needs to be done, and That only plodders can do.

 

Plodding on until his first conversions
So Carey finally reached India. Were the years of plodding over? They had only just begun. Even today, every missionary knows he is in for a tough time. How much more so then. It was nearly seven years before the first convert, Krishna Pal [see pic], was baptised at the end of 1800. Sadly, many missionaries today would already have given up well before that point. It is plodders we need.
Over the years, besides a host of other work, Carey translated the Bible into Bengali, Ooriya, Hindi, Marathi and Sanskrit. How on earth did he do it all in that strength-sapping heat? Diary extracts make it clear that it was chiefly by means of the biblical principle ‘little by little’. More than that, there was the deep-rooted conviction that ‘the work to which God has set his hands will infallibly prosper.’ It is such plodders we need.
 

Plodding on despite adversity
From the time they reached India, Carey’s wife, Dorothy, was in a fragile mental state. There were also deaths (including his young son in 1794), many disappointments, a breach with the Society back home and many set-backs. Through it all he learned, in his own words, the need ‘of bearing up in the things of God against wind and tide’.
In 1812, a particularly devastating blow struck. The printing house accidentally burned down. Paper, new type, irreplaceable manuscripts - all were lost. His reaction is exemplary. ‘In one night the labours of years are consumed. How unsearchable are the divine ways ... The Lord has laid me low that I might look more simply to Him.’ That Sunday he preached from Psalm 46 on God’s right to do his will, and our duty to acquiesce. He wrote to Fuller, ‘The ground must be laboured over again, but we are not discouraged ... God has a sovereign right to dispose of us as He pleases.’ As he plodded on, the press was re-established and output increased beyond what it was before. Plodding once more proved the way to blessing. Oh for more plodders like Carey today!

This article first appeared in Grace Magazine October 1992, then Reformation Today 130, (Nov/Dec 92) and Reformation Africa South (second quarter 93). I have reason to believe it has been a help to many. It is currently on my main blog as a page and as a blogpost.

A thousand years and a day

For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. Psalm 90:4

This is a verse worth pondering. Think how long a thousand years is – from before William I, say, through Elizabeth I to Elizabeth II. As far as God is concerned, says Moses, it is like a day that has just gone by.

Different perspectives

It is worth observing a thing from another angle. Fresh perspectives are good. From one angle, something looks hard, from another, easy. One vantage point makes a place seem near; another, far. Think of optical illusions like the young woman, old woman. Pride refuses to accept another perspective. Humility recognises other ways of seeing. Not all views are equally valid and we dare not deny objective truth but there are several ways to skin a cat.

Certainly, time has different perspectives. Shakespeare observed that ‘Time travels in divers paces with divers persons’, ambling with a woman waiting to be married and galloping with a thief to the gallows. Also, the older we get the faster time goes.

There are different perspectives to be had on time and life. Some say there is no God and refuse any other perspective. It is like someone getting excited about a pot of weeds and not seeing the beautiful flower garden outside.

God’s perspective

More specifically, we must recognise how different is God’s perspective on time. Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For man, a thousand years is long. Think of what has happened over a millennium – 1066, the Armada, two world wars; scholasticism, the Reformation, global mission. It is interesting that although Adam’s ante-diluvian descendants lived extraordinarily long, none attained a thousand years. Today, the length of our days is 70 years - or 80, if we have the strength. Even Moses only reached 120. Perhaps someone reading this will see the next century but none of us will see the next millennium. For man, a thousand years is more than a lifetime – for God it is like a day. Some days seem longer than others, but even the longest is nothing looking back. A watch in the night is three or four hours. Night and day were once divided into three or four watches each. Watching from midnight until four may be tedious, but looking back, it is nothing.

How different God to man. How far back can you remember? Ten years; fifty? None of us remember a hundred years ago. We cannot imagine living for centuries. But for God, a thousand years is like a day. Think of the view from a skyscraper or an aeroplane. Things are different when we see them from God’s perspective too. We need to get that perspective. It is good to hear the opinions of others – but best to know how God sees it. We must consider past and future millennia in this perspective.

God’s character

How is it that a thousand years is so brief to God? The answer lies in his character.

• All time is equally present with him. We can think of the near future and the recent past easily but to think of something that might happen a thousand years hence or even a thousand years past is not easy. It seems so far off. God is not like that. He is not a creature of time but the I AM who lives in an eternal today. He is everywhere and always, filling every place and every time.
• He sees the end from the beginning. Part of what makes time long to us is ignorance. We cannot know what will happen next. Think how journeys to new places always seem longer going than coming. Time seems to pass slowly in childhood as there is little thought of the future and little idea of what may happen next. God always knows the end from the beginning.
• He sees everything in terms of eternity. As creatures of time, we tend to forget that God has no beginning or end and is unbound by time. When we compare a day with a thousand years, the latter seems an eternity. God, however, compares a thousand years with eternity, so it seems like a day. For God the last 200 years are like two days or two watches for the angels of heaven! Moses uses these terms to help us. We talk of dog or cat years. A cat aged 13 is notionally 7 X 13 years – 91! Similarly we can say, one of our years equals 365,000 of God’s. Seventy years is 25,550,000. Or think of a man for whom £1 is a lot and another for whom £1000 is nothing. Of course, these are pictures; the reality is that God is the eternal God. We need to get this divine perspective, then we will see time as we ought. We will see how brief a millennium is. Though hundreds of years passed from Abraham to Moses to David to Jesus, yet in God’s eyes it was no time at all. We will see it is so too, if we seek the divine perspective.

Lessons

• The long time with no resurrection is no reason for doubts. Psalm 90:3 speaks of men returning to dust. The Bible teaches this and the resurrection of that dust. The world may have turned six or seven thousand years or more and may turn for as many again, nevertheless the resurrection day will come. It is but a week or two, as it were, that those in their graves longest have been dead. Expect the resurrection.
• The long time without Christ returning is no reason for doubts. Peter (1 Peter 3:7) quotes scoffers saying Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation. He warns, however, that as God sent the flood, so he will judge this world again by fire. He quotes Psalm 90:4 adding The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. God’s patience delays Christ’s return. As sure as this new millennium has arrived so in due time the Lord will return as and when God purposes. There is no delay. A 2000 year wait may seem long to us but not to the Lord. Meanwhile, be patient. The day of the Lord will come like a thief.
• Remember the brevity of life. Time hurtles by. As a child I remember how far off the next century seemed. Yet how quickly it has come. Soon the 22nd Century will dawn and we will all be in our graves.
• Take the long-term view. Many have written off Christianity. There is decline in Britain but that must not cloud the fact that worldwide the gospel advances and will continue to. Communism may engulf it for a season; Islam may stay longer; but truth marches on.
• Look to the eternal God. The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms (Deuteronomy 33:27). He has upheld his people for 2000 years. He will in any coming millennia. Look to him.

This article first appeared in Grace Magazine

God's Sheep - As safe as safe can be

The Calvinistic Baptist John Kent died in 1843. His final words, it is said, were “I am accepted”. He was confident of an abundance entrance into heaven. Years before he had written these words

What from Christ that soul can sever,

Bound by everlasting bands?

Once in him, in him for ever;

Thus the eternal covenant stands.

None shall pluck thee

From the Strength of Israel's hands.

 

Eternal security or the perseverance of the saints is a precious Reformation teaching. The Westminster Confession 17:1 expresses it like this

They, whom God has accepted in his Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by his Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace but shall certainly persevere therein to the end and be eternally saved. The idea is not that true believers never struggle or stumble but rather that, by God's grace, they will remain true to the end.

William Secker's Nonsuch professor puts it succinctly, “Though Christians be not kept altogether from falling, yet they are kept from falling altogether.”

 

John 10:28-30

One of many New Testament texts cited to support the doctrine is John 10:28-30. Jesus says of his sheep

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and my Father are one.

Eternal life is a gift Christ gives to his people. Once he gives it, he will not take it back. Such people never perish. No-one will ever snatch them out of Christ's hand. Moreover, the Father, who has given them to Christ and is greater than all has them in his hand too and will not let them be snatched away. Father and Son are united on this and there can be no conflict. There are a number of things in these verses then proving that God's sheep are as safe as can be.

 

The promise

Firstly, Jesus says that he gives his sheep eternal life and they shall never perish. It is a simple statement, I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. All true believers have eternal life because Christ has given it to them. Notice, I give. Eternal life is not earned. It is a free gift from the Saviour. John 6:27 is similar, Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. Ephesians 2 reminds us that we are saved by faith but even faith is by grace. Salvation is all of grace.

Because they are given eternal life it must be the case that believers never perish. Jesus is emphatic – there is no possible way they can perish. Hell will not be their lot.

To whom does Christ give life? Who will never perish? Those who listen to his voice and follow him. Only they have eternal life and never perish. To listen to Christ's voice is to obey. Such people get to know what Christ says and not only believe it but act on it and become Christ's followers. Their great aim in life is to please Christ.

Such people, Jesus makes clear, positively have eternal life and, negatively, never perish. Back in verse 10 he says that he came that they may have life, and have it to the full. Eternal life is life to the full, unending life, the life spoken of in John 3:16 and 6:40. Believers have eternal life now (what John 17:3 calls to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent) and will be raised up at the end to live with God forever.

By nature, sheep tend to stray and easily fall into danger. But if a shepherd looks after them, all will be well. Earthly shepherds may lose sheep, of course, but Jesus loses none. Why? Apart from anything else, he has promised - I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.

 

The hand of Jesus

The promise alone should be enough but some need reassurance. Here it is. Jesus says of his sheep no one will snatch them out of my hand. It is really a third statement saying the same thing – the sheep have eternal life; they shall not perish; no one will snatch them from Christ's hand.

At the beginning of Chapter 10, Jesus speaks of thieves and robbers, such as the Pharisees, who come to steal the sheep. They climb in somehow attempting to procure the sheep. They will not be successful. They are bound to fail.

When the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it, the sheep remain safe. Jesus is no hired hand who runs away when wolves come. No, Christ laid down his life for his sheep and will not abandon them when trouble comes. No-one can snatch a person from Christ's hand if they are his.

Here is an unbreakable three cord strand then – the believer has an incorruptible eternal life within so cannot perish. Even attempts to remove him from the Saviour's hand all fail. No one will remove, steal, carry off, drag away or snatch them out of my hand. It is partly a quiet appeal to deity. Jesus is God and so is able to hold many and loses none. Children like to play at trying to open their father's hand. While they are young they can never win, unless dad lets them. We can be sure that if we are in Christ's hand, he will never let us go. Isaac Watts put the idea in verse

 

Firm as the earth thy gospel stands,

My Lord, my hope, my trust;

If I am found in Jesus’ hands,

My soul can ne’er be lost.

His honour is engaged to save

The weakest of his sheep;

All that His heav’nly

Father gave His hands securely keep.

Nor death nor hell shall e’er remove

His favourites from his breast;

In the dear bosom of his love

They must for ever rest.

 

The hand of the Father

Surely no more can be said. Jesus promises eternal life, no perishing, none snatched from his hand. That is surely enough. But then people say silly things like “Ah, but what if I wriggle out of his hand myself?” So Jesus goes a step further. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. The greater than all could apply to the sheep rather than the Father, expressing the Father's high esteem for them but it is most likely to refer to the Father.

Christ has hold of them but as he and the Father are one it must be the case that the Father has them too. In eternity, the Father chose the elect. He chose them in Christ and gave them into his safe keeping. Therefore, it is right to say that all true believers are not only in the Son's hands but the Father's too. Jesus tells us that he and the Father are one, of course, so it inevitably follows but it adds one more layer of certainty for believers.

There is an expression “belt and braces”. Most people keep trousers up with a belt. From time to time the alternative method of braces (or suspenders if you are an American) becomes popular. One of my grandfathers always wore braces. If you have braces you do not need a belt and if you have a belt you do not need braces. But here we have belt and braces! Or think of an acrobat on a high trapeze. The acrobat is wearing a safety harness so as he tumbles through the air he cannot fall. But what if the harness fails? Look, there below is a safety net too!

Jesus himself assures believers of eternal life, of not perishing and adds that no one will snatch them out of my hand. Then he goes a step further and says no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. Under the Saviour's hand is the Father's too. Believers are as safe as safe can be. The Father is greater than all so absolutely no-one can remove them.

Writing to John Wesley in a long letter penned at the end of 1740, George Whitefield wrote of election that “this doctrine is my daily support;”. He went on to add

I should utterly sink under a dread of my impending trials, were I not firmly persuaded that God has chosen me in Christ from before the foundation of the world, and that now, being effectually called, he will suffer none to pluck me out of his Almighty hand.

All Christians ought to face their trials with a similar thought.

This article first appeared in the June 2016 Banner of Truth Magazine

Dr Lloyd-Jones The fight of faith

The second volume of the Doctor’s biography takes us from 1939 and the beginnings of his ministry at Westminster Chapel to his death in 1981.

Preaching

The final sermon of his Westminster ministry was given on March 1, in 1968. It was his 372nd Friday night exposition from the Book of Romans, which he began October 7, 1955. Before that he had been doing a series on biblical doctrine. Systematic exposition of Scripture was almost unknown in England in this period but it became a feature of his ministry and was taken up by many, many others. His first sortie seems to have been a series on 2 Peter in 1946 and 1947 and on Philippians shortly after. One on 1 John, began in the Autumn of 1948. In 1950 he began a series on The Sermon on the Mount and in 1954 that on Ephesians. By no means all of his sermons were expositions of books. He would take sometimes just a chapter (eg Psalm 73, John 17). In 1959, he marked the anniversary of the 1859 Revival with a series on Revival. Other themes dealt with were Baptism with the Spirit (1964-65) and a series entitled Spiritual Depression on assurance, preached in 1954.

The Doctor preached with three different emphases. On Friday nights the approach was more doctrinal, a Bible study. On Sunday mornings he endeavoured to help believers in their Christian living. On Sunday nights he was invariably evangelistic. In all the meetings the aim was to make everything simple with everything focussed on the 40 or 50 minute sermon exposition of Scripture. The trends in evangelicalism were all away from this ‘old fashioned’ approach but Dr Lloyd-Jones was used of God to bring people back to it.
 

Wider ministry

The early years at Westminster were war years and partly still alongside Campbell Morgan, who did not retire until 1943. Once that period was over Lloyd-Jones was able to blossom not just in his own pulpit but also in wider ministry. There was his continuing influence, especially in IVF (now UCCF), IFES and China Inland Mission (now OMF) circles; his close involvement and influence in the growing Evangelical Movement of Wales (he was a regular speaker at their Bala ministers’ conference) and various gatherings to mark significant events such as the 350th anniversary of the AV (1961) and the 300th anniversary of the Great Ejection (1962). Projects such as London Bible College and the Banner of Truth Trust (founded 1957) relied, at least initially, on his support. Declining to be first Principal of the college it was he who suggested the Strict Baptist Ernest Kevan and so secured a happy start for that institution. By 1958, however, college and preacher were heading in different directions. The magazine and publishing house began through Iain Murray, who became the Doctor’s assistant in 1956 and a wealthy member of the Chapel, Jack Cullum.

 

Important agencies

Other projects relied even more so on his energy and vision. The roots of The Evangelical Library lie in the conversion in 1903 of another Strict Baptist, Geoffrey Williams. Through his pastor, J K Popham, he discovered the riches of our Puritan heritage and began an evangelical library 12 miles south of London in Beddington. It was when he was introduced to Lloyd-Jones that the library was finally removed to central London to become the ‘Living force’ that it was to be and continues to be to this day. Its influence on the rediscovery of Calvinistic doctrine in this century is very great indeed. Then there was the Westminster Fellowship for ministers. This seems to have started as early as 1941 on a very small scale and meeting quarterly but grew and grew, meeting for longer and more regularly. While the Doctor remained in the chair it was chiefly an opportunity to discuss issues rather than to hear addresses. The Puritan Conference which later became the Westminster Conference was commenced in 1950 under the leadership of the Doctor and Jim Packer. It was originally a part of the IVF’s Tyndale Fellowship and was another tool used by God to draw people back to the Calvinistic and Puritan teaching that had been neglected for so long. In 1977 he gave the inaugural address of the London Theological Seminary which was founded very much on the lines of his own ideas concerning training for the ministry.

 

Conflict

Inevitably, as Lloyd-Jones and his views became more and more widely known, not everyone was enthusiastic and his life was marked by many struggles not only with those who were not evangelical but also with many who, though evangelical, were not convinced of his view of the way forward. The two major points of departure for most were the inter-related matters of rejecting Billy Graham’s decisionistic evangelism and the Doctor’s call to evangelicals to leave the ecumenical movement and unite together. Both are dealt with extensively in Volume 2 of the biography.

The first of these was a rather private. As far back as 1954 the Doctor had strong reservations about the Billy Graham Organisation. In 1963 he and Graham met. The latter was eager for the Doctor to chair the planned Congress on World Evangelism which eventually met in Berlin in 1966. Lloyd-Jones was far from unwilling to work with an Arminian but he was totally unconvinced by Graham’s evangelistic methods and strongly opposed to his ecumenism. The increasing unwillingness of evangelicals to clearly differentiate themselves from liberals in the mixed denominations led, eventually to a very public call from Lloyd-Jones to leave the denominations at a famous Evangelical Alliance rally in 1966, chaired by an unconvinced John Stott. It is from this time that we see the increase in churches leaving the mixed denominations and the rise of FIEC and the British Evangelical Council. Things were never quite the same after that. Today, some hanker for those days of co-operation with Anglican evangelicals and others in the compromised denominations and various rapprochements have been attempted. However, the case for separatism is perhaps stronger than ever and many lessons painfully learned over many years by Lloyd-Jones need to be re-learned by succeeding generations. It is important to note that Lloyd-Jones break with a man like Jim Packer did not come in 1966 with Packer’s decision to remain in the Anglican church but in 1970 when he refused to oppose non-evangelicals within his denomination.

Final years

Packer himself spoke of Lloyd-Jones as ‘the greatest man I have ever known’. The more you discover about this unique servant of God, the more you will see why he could say that. Above and beyond anything that can be said about his gifts or his success he was, quite simply, a man of God. He was not perfect. Iain Murray draws attention to his occasional abuse of his gifts of eloquence and incisive argument. On the other hand he draws attention to his humility. ‘Anything suggestive of self importance or dignity’ he says ‘was alien to his whole spirit.’ He also makes use of a quotation to say he was ‘A terrible judge in regard to ideas, he was full of charity in regard to persons ….’

The final years, from about 1975, were quiet ones. The Doctor preached his last sermon in June 1980 and after some weakness died in his sleep at home on March 1, 1981. Five days later he was buried in Newcastle Emlyn, West Wales. On April 6 there was a memorial service in Westminster Chapel.

 

This summery article first appeared in an edition of Grace Magazine called Dr Who?

Dr Lloyd-Jones The first forty years

Iain Murray is the author of the definitive two volume biography of Dr Lloyd-Jones. Volume 1 covers the period from his birth to his coming to be minister of Westminster Chapel.

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones was born in Cardiff, December 20, 1899, the second of three boys. In 1906, the family moved nearer its roots in rural Cardiganshire, to Llangeitho, scene of the labours of Daniel Rowland, the eighteenth century’s greatest preacher. In that relatively remote Welsh speaking community, he grew up, a bright boy, though not particularly studious until his teenage years.

It was in many ways idyllic but in January, 1910, the family home burned down. Increasing financial difficulty necessitated moving to a very different scene - London. Without losing the advantages of a Welsh speaking culture, which thrived in London at the time, other vibrant worlds opened to the teenager. Immersed in the religious and cultural life of Charing Cross Calvinistic Methodist Chapel he also enjoyed following political debates at the House of Commons.

 

A startling discovery

In 1916 he began his medical career at Bart’s. Qualifying in a remarkable three years he went to work for leading physician, Lord Thomas Horder. By 1923 he was chief clinical assistant and began research into endocarditis. The world appeared to be at his feet and many no doubt envied this talented young man. However, it was at this period that he made a startling and discomfiting discovery – he was not a Christian! It is hard today to grasp how, in the 1920s, there could be so much religion, especially among the Welsh, still affected by the 1904 Revival, yet so little evangelical Christianity. But modernism had ravaged the churches and seeing the hollowness of Liberal religion some ran from it, while others continued with a form of religion, denying its power. Others, like Lloyd-Jones, came under deep conviction and, by God’s grace, were converted. The Doctor’s conversion came over a period of time and was attended with strong conviction that he should abandon his glittering medical career and become a minister.

He preached his first sermon in 1925, at a Mission Hall for down and outs in Poplar, East London. Calvinistic Methodism was the leading Welsh sect. As the name implies, its roots are in the eighteenth century revival associated with names such as Whitefield, Hywel Harris, William Williams. Having grown up in the denomination and having great sympathy with its evangelical doctrines Lloyd-Jones proceeded to seek to minister in it. He went for interview at their Aberystwyth Theological College but was not drawn there. He was accepted as a ministerial candidate, however, and preached his first sermon for them in Newport. That church was keen to have him but he was drawn rather to a tougher situation further west: Bethlehem, Sandfields, in Aberavon, a Forward Movement church.

This whole period was one of great turmoil as Lloyd-Jones struggled with this decision but an increasing sense of the emptiness of this world and a growing compassion for people in their sins compelled him to preach. God was gracious and helped him in various ways. He had already begun to discover his Calvinistic Methodist heritage. Powicke’s biography of Baxter, republished 1926, led to a discovery of the riches of Puritanism. There were times too when he felt an overwhelming sense of God’s love filling his soul.

Then there was Bethan Phillips, a chapel friend since his arrival in London and a fellow doctor. She became Mrs Lloyd-Jones at the beginning of 1927. What a boon companion she was to be. They were later blessed with two daughters, Elizabeth and Ann.

 

Sandfields

Aberavon was a working class area. The church, founded as a sort of mission hall, had 146 members but the lack of clear ministry meant many were unconverted. Social activity and politics dominated the thoughts of most. There were to be radical changes in the earlier years as Lloyd-Jones sought to steer the church back on to firm ground. The drama society was closed along with all activities not directly related to God’s Word and prayer. As he opened up individual texts, Christians blossomed again and many, within the church and from outside, were converted. By 1927 there were 165 members; by 1928 – 196; by 1929 – 248. In 1930, 88 were added. Seventy of these were directly ‘From the world’. Such growth was remarkable and Murray’s chapter on it is headed ‘Revival’, a word Lloyd-Jones was reluctant to use. Some of the individuals converted at this time are described in Mrs Lloyd-Jones’s Memories of Sandfields.

From the beginning there was great interest in Lloyd-Jones. His undoubted clinical skills and extraordinary career change guaranteed that. His remarkable success now brought him further attention and he was often asked to preach at weekday and weeknight meetings, which still went on around the country. In 1932 he made his first trip across the Atlantic to preach in Toronto. In 1935, 7,000 heard him on Acts 2:38 in a marquee in Llangeitho and he preached to a packed Albert Hall on behalf of the Bible Testimony Fellowship. On this occasion G Campbell Morgan, minister of the Congregational Church at Westminster Chapel, heard him and invited him to preach.

Eventually Morgan invited him to assist in the work and in 1938 he resigned his Aberavon pastorate and returned to London. His position at Westminster was not formalised for a year owing to the expectation that his own denomination would call him as principal of one of their theological colleges, Aberystwyth or Bala. When this did not materialise, Lloyd-Jones accepted it was God’s will for him to minister at Westminster Chapel – which he did for the next 29 years.

 

Westminster

Even while still in Wales ministers were coming to him for advice and guidance. Students were also very much helped by a man who had both the intellect and the fervour they so needed. In 1930 he was elected President of Inter-Varsity Fellowship (now UCCF). His wisdom and conservatism gave IVF and IFES a backbone and vigour that they benefit from to this day. It is his ministry in Westminster that stands out for then he became a great leader and then he preached the sermons later published and still being published today. However, it is in the first 40 years that the foundation was laid. His acute and well trained mind (watchword – ‘Back to first principles’) was a great asset to God’s people in what were very dark and difficult days, when evangelicalism had been decimated by wave after wave of modernism. He found great help too in neglected authors such as Denney, Forsyth, Jonathan Edwards and Warfield, who died in 1921. He discovered Warfield’s works in Toronto. Lloyd-Jones’ clear theological convictions enabled him to successfully resist subtle foes such as ‘Moral rearmament’ and the ‘Neo-orthodoxy’ of Barth and Brunner. By God’s grace he was able to forge a truly Calvinistic, Bible expounding yet experiential, expression of evangelicalism to which we are all indebted to this day.

This summary article originally appeared in an edition of Grace Magazine called Dr Who?

Weakness - The way to perfection

Scripture often celebrates Israel’s victory over Midian. Before the battle, God tells Gideon he has too many men. So that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her, changes are needed. Judges 7:2 highlights important principles.

Universal tendency

God speaks and acts as he does because of our tendency to boast. For unbelievers, pride is their necklace. Boastfulness is typical of these last days. How readily we boast. A sure sign of worldliness is boasting of what we have and do (Psalm 73, 2 Timothy 3, James 3, 1 John 2). It is somehow instinctive with us. Gresham Machen describes tourists boasting of conquering summits when they have simply followed guides equally able to get sacks of corn to the top! Children brag about themselves. Adults blow their own trumpets. Even octogenarians crow about how young they look.

Do you tell stories lionising yourself? We are subtle sometimes but the propensity is continual. Denying it is only another brag - ‘others boast, I don’t’! Are you aware of this proclivity?

God hates boasting

Judges 7 proves that God hates boasting. Recall his response when Nebuchadnezzar bragged that he had built Babylon by his mighty power and for the glory of his majesty. That arrogant man was soon eating grass like a cow! 1 Peter 5:5 urges us to clothe ourselves with humility ... because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. God esteems the humble and contrite in spirit and pronounces the meek blessed. He warns the wise not to boast of their wisdom, the strong of their strength, the rich of their wealth. Rather, if he must boast, let him boast that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight. (Isaiah 66:2; Matthew 5:5; Jeremiah 9:23, 24).

Undeniably, God hates all boastfulness and pride. Reject it and humble yourself. Ephesians 5:17 says find out what pleases the Lord. God abhors boasting and demands all the glory for himself. The only glory we can know is reflected glory. He must have the praise. To covet it for ourselves brings wrath. Certain famous primadonnas want everything to revolve around them, taking credit for everything. How mean-spirited and arrogant. God takes the credit because it is due. He is responsible for everything. Do you see that? Then honour him.

Avoid boasting

Clearly, we must do all we can to avoid self-promotion. Jesus says, when giving to the needy, not to let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give but avoid drawing attention to yourself. Similarly, avoid praying standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. … go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen …. Pray, even in public, as if it is just the Lord and you. And when fasting avoid looking sombre as the hypocrites do. They disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. … rather put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men ... but only to your Father, who is unseen …. (Matthew 6:3, 5, 6, 16-18). Philippians 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

We have a bent for boasting but God loathes it. Do all you can to eliminate it. Self-flagellation and prolonged fasts will only to tempt us to boast. Deliverance comes from doing what God requires.

God’s work

One of the wonderful truths of the Bible is that God himself helps us avoid boasting. The very way he saves us shows this. It is not a matter of intelligence or beauty, nationality or family nor how good we are in men’s eyes. Rather, it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no-one can boast (Ephesians 2:8, 9). As we look from ourselves to Christ, he saves. Who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? (1 Corinthians 4:7). Are you cleverer, better looking, abler than others? If you fail to see it is God’s gift, you are a boaster.

Prayer is something else God uses to teach humility. How incongruous to brag about answered prayer. All the glory is God’s. Think of Paul’s thorn in the flesh. Whatever it was, this Messenger of Satan was highly unpleasant. Paul wanted it gone but instead God enabled Paul to cope. Suffering can help us. It can promote maturity in Christ if we are teachable.

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God whittles down Gideon’s army in stages. First, he removes the fearful, as Deuteronomy 20 demands. Over two thirds depart. The rule was to counteract low morale but it must have been hard to see 22,000 depart! Nevertheless, God was determined to prevent boasting. Cut backs were essential.

What is it about numbers? Numbers spell prestige and power. There is safety in numbers. We sometimes think they are the key to everything. Smaller churches envy larger ones; low numbers dishearten us. However, God sometimes wants a decrease. He has his chosen few. Many are on the broad road, few on the narrow road to heaven. We must give up worldly thinking and see that (as E F Schumacher put it in another context) ‘small is beautiful’ or, to use another slogan, ‘less is more’. If God is to use us, we must ‘think small’.

Even then there were still too many. Gideon must take them down to the water for further sifting. Perhaps you learned in Sunday School that God chose the final 300 for their superiority but it does not say that. Rather, if God said this one shall go with you, he went. And if he said this one shall not ... he stayed. The division, however we understand it, is arbitrary. And, so it seems, is the kingdom. God appears to bless a preacher, a church, an individual. We seek explanations. Sometimes we think we know why. Often we are baffled. It seems capricious, nonsensical. Eloquent preachers with small churches, ordinary preachers with large ones; the godly forgotten, the worldly acclaimed. The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favour to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all (Ecclesiastes 9:11). Accept the way it is and recognise how God thus subverts boasting and glorifies himself, doing as he chooses. We must learn humility.

Success through weakness

Gideon’s experience shows how mysterious success is. We dare not excuse laziness or neglect but we must learn to give God glory. We must somehow learn with Paul not to boast about ourselves except, as it were, of our weaknesses (2 Corinthians 12). To know what Gideon and Paul knew, we must ponder God’s words, my power is made perfect in weakness. We must gladly boast of our weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on us. For his sake, delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties convinced that when I am weak, then I am strong.

 

This article first appeared in Grace Magazine.