Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Christ Dwelling in Your Heart By Faith

What does it mean for Christ to dwell in our hearts by faith according to Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones?

According to Dr. Lloyd-Jones, Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith refers to Christ settling down in a deeper and more permanent manner in the believer's life. He explains this is not merely Christ's influence, memory, or teaching, but "Christ himself dwelling within us." He describes it as a "mystical relationship" that goes beyond mere intellectual understanding. It means "Christ dominates the life," "rules over the whole of our activities," and becomes "the Lord of our life" in a practical sense where we are "dominated by him, a kind of Christ intoxication."

How is this experience different from the sealing of the Spirit?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones makes these distinctions between Christ dwelling in our hearts and the sealing of the Spirit:

1. "The sealing of the Spirit is primarily a matter of assurance of salvation," while Christ dwelling in our hearts is "mainly a question of communion with the Lord."
2. This experience is "more permanent than that of sealing," as "sealing is something which can be often repeated."
3. This experience has "less of what you may call the ecstatic element than in the sealing." He illustrates this as "the difference between falling in love for the first time and living with your wife in a state of love throughout the years."

Who is this spiritual experience available to, according to the sermon?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones emphatically states that this experience is available to all believers, not just special or exceptional Christians. He says: "The apostle offers this prayer for all Christians. It isn't merely a prayer for certain exceptional people." He rejects the distinction between religious and laity, saying, "The New Testament, unlike the Roman Catholic Church or other forms of Catholicism, does not divide believers into religious and laity. It's an utterly false distinction." He specifically notes that Paul prayed this prayer for the Ephesians who had recently come out of paganism, showing that this experience is not just for spiritually mature believers.

How does Dr. Lloyd-Jones explain the difference between objective and subjective Christianity?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains that the beginning of the Christian faith is "mainly objective" - focusing on "Christ for us" rather than "Christ in us." In the objective aspect, we look at "Christ outside us," considering his birth, life, teachings, miracles, and his death on the cross for our sins. The subjective experience, which is Christ dwelling in our hearts, comes later and results from the objective. While maintaining that both elements exist in both experiences, he says the emphasis shifts from primarily objective to primarily subjective - from Christ's work for us to "Christ as my life, Christ as the one who resides within me and who takes up his abode within my life and within my consciousness."

How can believers experience Christ dwelling in their hearts according to the sermon?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones provides these practical steps for experiencing Christ dwelling in one's heart:

1. Pray to be "strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man" as this is a prerequisite
2. Allow the Holy Spirit to strengthen our minds to comprehend these deep truths
3. Allow the Holy Spirit to strengthen our hearts by helping us get rid of self-love, as "Christ won't come there until there's room for him"
4. Pray for the strengthening of our wills to persistently pursue this experience
5. Begin to see and deal with sin more deeply - "You'll discover a vileness in yourself you couldn't even have imagined"
6. "Mortify the flesh" and "cleanse your heart" in preparation for Christ's indwelling
7. Keep pursuing Christ until you truly experience His presence, not just "taking it by faith"

What does Dr. Lloyd-Jones say about the dangers of being content with our current spiritual condition?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones warns that "any Christian who is satisfied with his or her position or experience is in a very sad and deplorable condition." He explains that in times of widespread error and heresy, evangelical Christians can easily imagine "that they've arrived, and because they're always contrasting themselves with those who are obviously wrong, to think that they need nothing more." He cautions that rather than comparing ourselves to those who are wrong, we should "look at the saints" and measure ourselves by passages like this prayer in Ephesians. He imagines that "there will be nothing more terrible at the day of judgment" than realizing "what was possible for us in this life, and yet to know that we never bothered ourselves about it."

How does Dr. Lloyd-Jones use Christian hymns to illustrate this experience?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones quotes several hymns to illustrate the experience of Christ dwelling in our hearts, including:

1. "Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts" - questioning if we can genuinely say Jesus is the joy of our hearts
2. "Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee" - which states "But what to those who find? Ah, this nor tongue nor pen can show; The love of Jesus what it is? None but His loved ones know"
3. Charles Wesley's hymn declaring "Thou, O Christ, art all I want, more than all in Thee I find"
4. Count Zinzendorf's statement "I have one passion, it is He and He alone"

He emphasizes these hymn writers were expressing genuine experience, not mere theory: "These men are writing their experience here. It isn't theory. They'd read these scriptures, they'd realize their application to them. They'd sought this, and they'd obtained."