December 1965

What does it mean that Jesus Christ is the foundation of the Christian’s salvation? The theme of Jesus as God’s appointed Savior is found throughout the Gospel of John. In this sermon from John 2:23–25 titled “Captain of Our Salvation,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones expounds on this great doctrine and its significance for all. The biblical message of salvation is the proclamation that God has acted in Jesus Christ to redeem His people from sin and bondage. It is wholly a work of grace that cannot be improved on or added to; it cannot be made more perfect than it is. Jesus alone saves. Any desire to add to the work of Christ distorts the gospel and denies Jesus as the sole savior of the world. What does this message mean for humanity? First and foremost, it is a call to repent and believe in Jesus. Sinners should not go another day without trusting in the compassion and love of God. For those that already believe, they must seek to live in the power of Christ and reject all efforts of self-justification. Jesus is the captain of their salvation because He is the only one that can save from sin, death, and the judgment of God.

The world can only be saved by the grace and power of God almighty. As Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones proclaims in this sermon on Acts 4:31-33 titled “The God of Grace and Power,” there is no other way. The whole world lies under the condemnation of God’s wrath that justly befalls all the unrighteous and ungodly who reject God’s rule over the world and their lives. The only way to escape this judgment has been provided by God in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. This is the gospel: God showing grace to those who hate Him and reject Him by sending His only begotten Son to die in their place. In this grace, God’s wrath can be escaped and fallen sinners can receive new life and become the children of the God they once hated and despised. They can have complete assurance that they will be saved on the last day because of the grace of God made manifest in Christ. This is the hope of the gospel: salvation to all who trust in Christ. All who rest in His grace will conquer with Christ when He returns to bring the new heavens and the new earth. God’s grace in Christ is the only hope for the world. All must not fail to repent and believe in the only savior that the world has ever known.

Throughout church history, faithful believers have faced a recurring pastoral dilemma: what should be done when the visible church contains many who show little evidence of genuine Christian life? From Martin Luther to John Wesley, numerous reformers attempted to address this problem by forming "little churches within the church"—select gatherings of committed believers who met for deeper fellowship, prayer, and instruction while remaining part of the larger institutional church. In this Westminster Puritan Conference address, Dr. Lloyd-Jones provides a masterful historical survey of these "ecclesiola in ecclesia" movements, examining their motivations, methods, and ultimate outcomes across four centuries.<br><br>Yet Dr. Lloyd-Jones does far more than recount history. He presses toward the fundamental question these movements raise for every evangelical pastor and church today: Should we start with the situation as we find it and attempt to reform it, or should we start with the New Testament pattern and apply it regardless of cost? Through careful analysis of Scripture and the lessons of history, Dr. Lloyd-Jones demonstrates why these "second best" solutions inevitably failed and challenges his hearers to confront the foundational issues of church membership, true conversion, and biblical ecclesiology. This is not merely an academic exercise but an important message calling the church back to New Testament principles in an age of mixed denominations and ecumenical compromise.

Every Christmas season a battle rages. For Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones the battle rages over the historical facts about the birth of Christ. While many deny the facts of Christmas altogether, Dr. Lloyd-Jones says there is a much more dangerous message distributed among the culture during the Christmas season. It is a message which says that it does not matter whether the Son of God actually was born in a particular location and in a particular year. Whether the birth of Christ is true or historical makes no difference at all because we can still say we have a noble teaching in the Christmas story, and it can still help people have a better life. This psychologizing of the Christmas message, says Dr. Lloyd-Jones, sounds wonderful, but in the end it is the most hopeless message the world has ever heard. Why? Because sinful humanity is left with nothing but an exhortation to live a moral life. But the historical, biblical facts of the Christian Gospel is about what God has actually done in time through the Son of God. In this Christmas Day sermon, Dr. Lloyd-Jones expounds the relationship of the Lord Jesus Christ to time, emphasizing that the Son of God was before time, manifested in time, come late in time, in the fullness of time, is himself the center of time, and will come back to end time! Listen as Dr. Lloyd-Jones battles for the true Christmas message in this sermon on Luke 2:1.

Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem. But who is Jesus? Some say Jesus was a great man and ethical teacher. Some say he was nothing more than a human teacher like many who came before him and would come after him. However, as Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones shows us from Scripture and in this sermon titled “God With Us,” Jesus was no mere man, but He was the very Son of God. He was God in flesh come to dwell with humanity through the incarnation. In the Old Testament God was present with His people through the temple and the manifestation of His glory. But in Bethlehem God became present with His people by being born of a virgin. In this, God the Son (the second person of God) takes upon a true human nature and becomes subject to all the infirmities of the flesh. As God becomes present in Christ Jesus, it is a new presence and is better than the presence of the Old Covenant. The message of the incarnation goes far beyond the story of the birth of Jesus. He did not come into the world to merely be an example or to simply teach, but he came to die for sins. This is the great hope of the Christian faith: God became a man to die so that humanity may know Him.

All the turmoil and strife in the world has its root in humanity’s sinful rebellion against God the creator. When humanity rejects God as ruler and rebel, they lose any hope of true peace and happiness. As Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains in this sermon on Acts 4:31–35, all hope is lost because the world rejects the Creator who is the source of all blessings. When people reject God as ruler, they set themselves up as their own rulers. This leads to anger, bitterness, jealousy, strife, and hatred. Because sin is the root of all the troubles, all plans to bring peace and harmony to the world that reject God and His view of the world are doomed to fail. This is the current state of the world. There is suffering and pain on a massive scale across the globe that people seek to fix. But Dr. Lloyd-Jones says that it is the fallen nature that produces these ills. And it is only the gospel of Jesus Christ that brings renewal and true change. It is only by the transformation of hearts and minds that the world will come to know peace and experience joy. This is the great promise of the gospel: the renewal and transformation of the whole world under the reign of Christ.

Has Christ committed himself to you? Do you have a relationship with Christ? In this sermon on John 2:23-25 titled “Christ committed to you,” Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones answers this question and explains what it means to have Christ committed to you and to have a relationship with Christ. He explains that salvation is not one sided, but it is a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Additionally, we cannot decide to take salvation or any part of it whenever we like. Salvation depends on Christ and is not simply our decision. Dr. Lloyd-Jones says that the vital thing in salvation is whether Christ will commit Himself to us. So how do we know that He has committed Himself to us? None but his loved ones know. If we examine our relationship with him, then we can tell if he has received us. Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains that if you are resting on some experience in the past that you think may have given you salvation, and you are constantly questioning your faith, then Christ has likely not received you. If you have spiritual understanding, are amazed at yourself, have rest and peace, a sense that you have been ‘dealt with’, and have a hunger and thirst for Christ, then he has committed Himself to you and you have a relationship with Christ.

How does the message of the gospel come to men and women? How do they move from hearing the words to believing them? In this sermon on Acts 4:29-33 titled “The Work of the Holy Spirit,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones preaches about the wonderful work of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the preaching of the gospel. In his sermon, he focuses specifically on the work of the Holy Spirit as the one enabling and empowering the preachers who proclaim and the listeners who respond. This is a special work of the Spirit to accomplish this and it helps the believer understand why there are those who hear the gospel but are merely convicted as opposed to those who are convicted and convinced of the gospel. It is a peculiar function of the Holy Spirit to utilize the Word of truth to convince the listener of righteousness and judgment. Dr. Lloyd-Jones urges the believer to proclaim the gospel with great boldness to convict while also praying for the Spirit to convince the listener.

The Christian will certainly fail to understand Christianity if they reduce it to morality, escape from hell, or even simply the forgiveness of sins. In this sermon on Romans 12:1–2 titled “Renewal of the Mind (3),” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones reminds that Christianity is concerned with those things, but the Scriptures teach that the Christian life is so much more. The doctrine of regeneration, he says, tells that God enables the mind to know and appreciate the will of God. It is surely unnatural for fallen humanity to delight in the law of the Lord. It is contrary to the sinful nature to confess, no matter the dire circumstances of life, that God’s ways are always good. Indeed, the pleasure and delight the believer experiences concerning the will of God is both the result and goal of the renewal of the mind. Dr. Lloyd-Jones contends that the new outlook on life where the Christian believes God’s will is always good, always acceptable, and always perfect moves Christianity beyond other ethical systems of the world. Listen as he shows how the renewal of minds leads to the most glorious aspect of the Christian faith –– finding the will of God beautiful and most wonderful no matter what.

In this sermon, the second of two sermons preached at the opening of Zion Evangelical Baptist Church (Rippon, England) on December 8th 1965, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones addresses the critical importance of understanding the doctrine and true nature of the Christian church. <br /> <br /> What does an authentic, Spirit-filled Christian church look like? In this sermon examining the early church in Acts 2:42-47, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones argues that the defining mark is an insatiable desire to gather together, rooted in their new life in Christ. The early believers met daily because they shared the same salvation experience, the same newfound separation from the world, and the same joy in their Savior. Their example stands in stark contrast to many professing Christians today who see church as a duty rather than a delight. Dr. Lloyd-Jones asserts that the only thing that will draw the masses to church is seeing a body of believers who wouldn't miss gathering for anything because it thrills them to the depths of their being. Revival occurs when people are truly born again and treasure Christ and His church above all else. This passion and authenticity is the great need today. Please note that the ending of this sermon was lost from the original recording.

In this sermon, the first of two sermons preached at the opening of Zion Evangelical Baptist Church (Rippon, England) on December 7th 1965, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones addresses the critical importance of understanding the doctrine and true nature of the Christian church. He argues that many of the problems and divisions within the church stem from a lack of clarity about what the church really is and its function in the world. With the rise of the ecumenical movement and the increasing confusion in society about the church's message, Dr. Lloyd-Jones asserts that it is imperative for Christians to go back to the New Testament to rediscover the church's true identity and purpose. He warns against merely defending the status quo or attempting to modify existing structures, instead urging believers to faithfully study and apply the biblical teaching on the church.

What do Jesus’s miracles mean to the Christian? Did they bring the Christian to faith, or are they simply impressed by them? In this sermon on John 2:23–25 titled “The Temporary Believer,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones expresses the danger of believing in Christ solely based on spectacle. True believers come to Christ because of who He is, not merely for the miracles He performed. Many came to faith after seeing Christ’s miracles, but they did so in confession of sin because they realized their spiritual state in relation to God. Faith in the signs Christ performed did not lead people to salvation, but faith in the God who performed them did. Dr. Lloyd-Jones clarifies that God’s word, not wonders, leads people to faith. The distinction is important: wonders are phenomenal to behold, but God’s word articulates the truth of Christ to needful souls. This means that Christ’s teaching about His person and the good news was what brought people to Him, and miracles were further affirmation of His legitimacy. Dr. Lloyd-Jones also exhorts his listeners that they must believe “on” Jesus, not merely “in” Him. The difference, he explains, is that those who believe on Jesus are trusting Him with their souls; those who believe in Jesus merely trust Him to be a spectacle.

Christianity is a historical faith. While the world is full of other religions and “spiritual experiences,” Christianity is set apart by the objectivity of events brought about by the Triune God. These events—the history of Israel; the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus; the day of Pentecost; the global spread of the gospel—are objective events that point creation back to God. In this sermon titled “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones takes the listener back to the early church in this sermon on Acts 4:31 and shows that Christianity is not taken up on one’s own accord or power; rather, it takes the Christian up. The apostles were not well-educated or eloquent men and yet God used these ordinary men to spread the good news and Christianity flourished. Acts emphasizes that this is the work of the Trinitarian God - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is the basis of the apostles’ hope and confession and the foundation of great hope. Subjective experiences don’t rule one’s faith, says Dr. Lloyd-Jones. The objective reality of the Christian’s history, as well as the ongoing work of revival, reminds them that their living God actively cares for this world.

The purpose of the incarnation, the cross, and the resurrection is not to merely have individuals escape hell. The Christian will miss the glory of the person and work of Christ if they reduce salvation to fire insurance. In this sermon on Romans 12:1–2 titled “Renewal of the Mind (2),” regeneration, or new birth, is being transferred out of the kingdom of darkness, and transferred into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son. This is what it means to be a Christian – God creates a new humanity. The Christian has new thoughts, new attitudes, and a new outlook on life. In short, their mind is changed. As the apostle Paul says succinctly, the Christian has a renewal of the mind. One misses the message of the entire New Testament if they miss the apostle Paul’s teaching in this passage. Dr. Lloyd-Jones reminds how important Paul’s teaching is to the Christian life. As pilgrims on the journey, Christians say to themselves day by day, “I no longer belong to the darkness; I am of the people of God. I am of His kingdom.” By reminding themselves of these things, they view God, themselves, the world, and time itself in a completely different way. Listen as Dr. Lloyd-Jones applies one of the most profound teachings on the doctrine of sanctification.